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C[ie Virginia Conoention of 1829 - 30 . 


A DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED BEFORE 




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THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 


AT THEIR 


ANNUAL MEETING, 

mv t (vc O^Dtfvervaeiuiv mv t(v& ^(oilij/ cltotcfunctuV, 


December 15th, 1853. 


BY HUGH B. GRIGSBY. 


PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 


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RICHMOND: 

MACFARIANE & EERGUSSON. 

1854. 









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* 




DISCURSE. 


Mr. President and. Gentlemen 

of the Virginia Historical Society : 

Could we point to some succinct and authentic record of 
the lives of those great men who laid the foundations of 
our institutions and reared upon them the structure, which 
it was the privilege of our fathers and ourselves for half a 
century to inhabit,—how delightful would be the office of 
pointing out their worth to the young men of the country, 
and of exhorting them to imitate their glorious example? 
Alas! no such record exists ; and the Virginian, old and 
young, knows less of George Mason and Edmund Pendle¬ 
ton, than he does of the statesmen of Greece or Rome; 
and when the patriotic parentis sensible of the importance 
of imbuing the youthful mind with a knowledge of our 
early benefactors, he finds the task difficult and almost im¬ 
possible. Much has been lost, but much may yet be done. 
I hold that every fact relating to those eminent men is of 
real value. It may seem at first immaterial to know that 
Pendleton was a cripple ; but, when it is known that, lame 
as he w~as, and unable to rise from his chair to put a ques¬ 
tion to the house, he was nevertheless unanimously chosen 
president of the Virginia Convention of 1788, and allowed 
to perform the duties of the station sitting, and afterwards 
presided for so many years in our highest courts, the fact 
contains a moral which posterity will delight to learn and 
to apply. Let us hope that the glory of performing such 


•4 


DIOCOURSE. 


an office awaits some member of our association, and, if he 
should execute it with the skill and grace with which the 
character and services of Hampden have been recorded by 
an eminent Virginian, he will accomplish a work wffiich 
the present age will hail with applause, and which poster¬ 
ity, if I may use the words of Milton just quoted by the 
chair, will not willingly let die. 

I come to lay my own humble but grateful tribute at.the 
shrine of the past, and, while I sincerely wish that the task 
of recalling to the recollection of the present generation 
the lives and services of the members of the Virginia Con¬ 
vention of 1829-30 had been assigned to worthier hands 
than mine, I trust the readiness with which I have under¬ 
taken it, deeply sensible as I am of its difficulty and deli¬ 
cacy, will afford no uncertain measure of the regard with 
which I cherish the purposes of our society, and of my 
thorough conviction of its importance to the historical liter¬ 
ature of our native State. Premising that I shall mainly 
speak of those members who are no longer living, with a 
becoming respect to their memory indeed, but with all the 
freedom of history, I proceed at once to my office. 

When the General Assembly of Virginia, during the 
winter of 1828-9, passed the act calling a Convention, to 
be composed of four delegates from each senatorial dis¬ 
trict, and required it to assemble in the city of Richmond 
on the fifth of October following, the attention of the 
people was soon directed to the choice of delegates to so 
important a body. Federal politics w r ere laid aside ; and 
public worth and eminent abilities were the only standards 
in the selection of its members. Actual residence was 
overlooked, and the unusual sight was presented of one 
district selecting its representatives from another and a dis¬ 
tant one. hat was rarer still, the opinions of many of 
persons voted for were unknown, and in a comparatively 


DISCOURSE. 


5 


few instances did anj^ candidate address the people from 
the hustings. 

A body of men, selected under such circumstances, might 
well attract attention at home and abroad ; and the period 
of its assembling drew towards Richmond a large concourse 
of intelligent persons from various parts of the Union. 
Young men came on horseback from Kentucky, Tennessee, 
and other Southern States. Statesmen, men of mature 
years, who had already earned for themselves a title to 
the public regard, ministers of foreign powers, who wished 
to see men whose names had become historical, educated 
men of every profession and class, came, many of them 
with their families, to behold the gathering, and listen to 
the discussions of the body. The citizens of Virginia, 
who came to Richmond from within her own borders and 
from abroad, would alone have formed an auditory, which 
any speaker would have been proud to address. 

It was about ten o’clock of the fifth of October, 1829, a 
morning as lovely and as auspicious as could have been cho¬ 
sen, that hundreds of persons, of all ages, were seen throng¬ 
ing the public square, and walking through the apartments 
of the Capitol, now halting about the statue of Washing¬ 
ton, which was soon to look down on some of the patriots 
and sages who had upheld the living original in the field 
and in the cabinet, then moving towards the library, then 
recently established, which was thrown open to public in¬ 
spection. As the hour of twelve drew near, and the mem¬ 
bers elect began to assemble in the hall of the House of 
Delegates, and exchange salutations, the crowd gravitated 
toward the gallery and the lobby, and filled every place 
from which it was possible to see or hear. At twelve, the 
house was called to order by James Madison, who nomi¬ 
nated James Monroe as President of the Convention, and 
was seconded by John Marshall. That the nomination 


6 


DISCOURSE. 


of such a man, made by such men, was unanimously con¬ 
firmed, is known to all. 

Here let us pause, and contemplate the members who 
then filled the seats in that hall. To behold those venera¬ 
ble men—to listen to their names as they fell distinctly and 
deliberately from the lips of the accomplished clerk, was 
to feel the whole history of Virginia from the memorable 
session of 1765 to that moment flash full upon you. 
It is true, that no member of the House of Burgesses of 
1765 was present, nor any one, who, like the youthful Jef¬ 
ferson, had heard the eloquence of Henry in defence of 
his resolutions. Peyton Randolph had departed before the 
clouds had begun to break away from the sky of the Revo¬ 
lution. The waters of the Potomac and the Staunton had 
been flowing beside the graves of Washington and Henry 
for more than a quarter of a century; and before Wash¬ 
ington and Henry had departed, Richard Henry Lee had 
been gathered to his fathers amid the shades of Chantilly. 
It was the fortune of George Wythe and Edmund Pendle¬ 
ton to survive to the present century, and to behold the 
federal government in the full tide of successful experi¬ 
ment, their ancient friend, Thomas Jefferson, at the helm. 
Paul Carrington, who had moved the appointment of Pey¬ 
ton Randolph as President of the Convention of 1775, and 
of Edmund Pendleton as President of the Convention of 
1788, and was the last survivor of the House of Burgesses 
of 1765, had died eleven years before. The author of the 
Declaration of Independence, who, as a spectator in the 
lobby, had drank in the inspiration of Henry’s eloquence 
in the debate on the resolutions against the stamp act, and 
has given us the most interesting reminiscences of the 
scene, had died in less than four years before the meeting 
of the body. These distinguished patriots were not indeed 
present in the Convention of 1829-30, yet were so con- 


DISCOURSE. 


7 


nected in their lives with those who were, that our whole 
history seemed reflected in the panorama that was moving 
before us. If Jefferson were not present, there was Madi¬ 
son, who carried out in the Assembly the great measures 
which his absence during his mission to the Court of 
France rendered it impracticable for him to do in person, 
and to whom he had recently said: “ To myself you have 
been a pillar of support through life ; take care of me 
when dead.” If Pendleton and Wythe did not appear, 
there were Madison and Marshall, who had struggled with 
them in the Convention of 1788 against the eloquence of 
Henry, and who brought them into view; and if Grayson 
and George Mason were absent, there was Monroe, who 
united with them in opposing the adoption of the federal 
constitution by the people of Virginia. Marshall and Mon¬ 
roe had been with Washington in some of the hard con¬ 
tested fields of the Revolution, while Madison in the coun¬ 
cils of Virginia, and in the Congress of the Confederation, 
had sustained by his eloquence and patriotism the plans of 
our Great Leader. If George Mason, who drafted the 
constitution which the Convention w T as assembled to re¬ 
vise, was no more, there was Madison who aided him in 
sustaining that instrument in the Convention of 1776, and 
who could speak in his behalf. 

Perhaps the most important act in our history was the 
adoption of the federal constitution,—an act, the full pur¬ 
port of which was not known at the time of its adoption, 
if indeed it is fully known at present; and the history of 
that instrument and of the measures of those who carried 
it into execution, was wrapped up in the lives of the men 
who then sat in that hall. If to any one individual more 
than another the paternity of the federal constitution ma} r 
be ascribed, James Madison was that man. It may be that 
the present form of that paper is from the pen of Gouver- 


8 


DISCOURSE. 


neur Morris, but Madison was the inspiring genius of the 
new system. He it was, who, while a member of the old 
Congress, drew the celebrated appeal to the people at the 
close of the war to adopt some efficient mode of paying 
the debts of the confederation ; who procured in 1786 the 
passage of the resolution of this commonwealth inviting 
the meeting at Annapolis, which resulted in the assembling 
of the Convention in Philadelphia; who attended the ses¬ 
sions of that body, and as much as any one man, if not 
more, guided its deliberations. He, too, was the author of 
the letter accompanying the constitution, signed by Wash¬ 
ington, and addressed to the President of Congress. He 
it was, who with Jay and Hamilton sustained the consti¬ 
tution by those essays which, under the name of the Fe¬ 
deralist, have attained the dignity of a text-book and a clas¬ 
sic. He it w r as who, more than any one man, braced the 
nerves of the Virginia Convention of 1788, while Henry, 
George Mason, Grayson and Monroe were breathing awful 
imprecations on the head of the new system ; and who 
drafted the form of ratification of that instrument by the 
body ;—a form destined to be known better hereafter than 
it is at present. He it was, who repaired to New York, 
and assisted in the deliberations of the first Congress. He 
it was, whose influence was felt in the federal councils, 
either by his personal presence as a member of the House 
of Representatives, Secretary of State, and President, or 
by his writings from 1786, when Virginia adopted his reso¬ 
lution inviting the meeting at Annapolis, to the moment 
of the assembling of the bod}" of which he was then a 
member. The history of that one man was the history of 
his country. There, to the extreme left of the chair, as it 
then stood, dressed in black, with an olive colored over¬ 
coat, now and then raising his hand to his powdered hair, 


DISCOURSE. 


9 


and studiously attentive to every speaker, he was sitting 
before vou. 

When Mr. Madison took his seat in the Convention, he 
was in the seventy-ninth year of his age; yet, though so 
far advanced in life, and entitled alike by age and position to 
ease, he attended the meetings of the body during a ses¬ 
sion of three months and a half without the loss, so far as 
I now remember, of more than a single day. That he was 
entitled to the chair, and that the universal expectation 
was that he should receive that honor, none knew better, 
or could have acknowledged more gracefully, than did Mr. 
Monroe. He spoke but two or three times, when he as¬ 
certained that his voice was too low to be heard ; possibly, 
too, he might have been ave.rse from mingling too closely 
in the bitter strifes of a new generation. When he rose 
to speak, the members, old as well as young, left their 
seats, and, like children about to receive the words of wis- 

*V 

dom from the lips of an aged father, gathered around him. 
That he still retained the vigor of his intellect, and that un¬ 
approachable grace in his written compositions, his two 
short speeches written out by himself, and his letters to 
Mr. Cabell, Mr. Everett, and Mr. Ingersoll on the Tariff, 
Bank and Nullification controversies, show clearly enough. 

As a speaker, Mr. Madison was more distinguished by 
intellectual than physical qualities. His voice at no period 
of his life was strong enough to be heard distinctly in a 
large assembly. In the House of Delegates of which he 
was a member at intervals from 1776 to 1788, andin 1799, 
his influence in debate was more by the impression which 
he made upon prominent men than upon the house itself. 
The Continental Congress and the Philadelphia federal 
convention, in which he gained so much renown, were 
small bodies, rarely exceeding forty, and sometimes not 
half that number, and were within the range of his voice. 


10 


DISCOURSE. 


The first Congress under the federal constitution was com¬ 
posed of less than sixty members, Rhode Island and North 
Carolina not having then adopted that instrument, and its 
whole complement was but sixty-five. Butin the Virginia 
federal convention and in the House of Delegates, the num¬ 
bers of which exceeded those of the two bodies first named 
four times, and of the last named nearly three times, he 
was rarely heard throughout the hall. Several of the finest 
passages in his speeches in the Virginia federal conven¬ 
tion are lost to posterity from the weakness of his voice. 

His style of debate was in unison with his general cha¬ 
racter, and partook more of the essay than the speech. He 
adhered closely to his subject, and, avoiding all personali¬ 
ties towards others, was prompt, however, to repel them 
when aimed at himself. When Grayson, in the conven¬ 
tion of ’88, made some allusions to him of a personal na¬ 
ture, he instantly rose and demanded an unequivocal re¬ 
traction. This was the only instance of a personal kind 
that he encountered during the session, and, perhaps, 
throughout his whole career, while Patrick Henrv and Ed- 
mund Randolph, who had been friends, became, in the 
course of the session, bitter enemies; and it is probable 
that the amicable relations of George Nicholas and Henry 
were seriously impaired by the collisions of debate. 

It would be difficult to estimate too highly his services in 
the Virginia federal convention. As he had studied the 
Constitution as a whole, which no other member except 
George Mason had done, and discussed it minutely in the 
numbers of the Federalist; moreover, as he had been one 
of the most active members of the body which formed it, 
he stood by its side throughout the session of twenty-five 
days, and explained its probable working as readily as if 
he had seen it in full operation for a quarter of a century. 
It required his ready tact, his range of historical iilustra- 


Discourse. 


11 


tion. and Ins philosophical caste of mind which kept him 
free from the personalities of debate, to reassure the friends 
of the constitution, who were daily shaken by the vatici¬ 
nations of Henry and Mason, and to reconcile them to its 
adoption. As it was, in a house of one hundred and sixty- 
eight members, it was carried by a majority of ten votes 
only. When it is remembered that the favorable vote of 
Virginia was alone wanting to save the constitution, eight 
States having already ratified it, and that North Carolina 
and Rhode Island afterwards refused to adopt it, it is more 
than probable that its rejection by the largest State in the 
confederation, as Virginia then was, would have settled its 
fate, and the federal constitution would have sunk to rise 
no more. If the adoption of that system were wise and 
proper ;—if it has shed boundless blessings on our own 
people, and lifted its cheering light to the eyes of the op¬ 
pressed of every clime; and if such a glorious result can 
be traced to the action of anyone State and any one man, 
Virginia is the State, and James Madison is the man, to 
whom honor is due. 

I have said that Mr. Madison rarely took part in the pro¬ 
ceedings of the Convention then sitting. It was in con- 
versation that he made the strongest impression on the 
hearts of all who sought him. A severe student in early 
life, he never forsook his first love, and the accuracy and 
freshness of his literary and political reminiscences aston¬ 
ished the admiring listener. In the midst of his retire¬ 
ment he had watched the general current of history, and 
was prompt to correct any material error. Ilis graceful 
refutation of a theory of the historian Robertson, which he 
presented in the course of an agricultural address in 1819, 
is well known ; and when Dr. Ramsay, in his account of 
the Revolution, alluded to the instructions of Virginia to 
her delegates in the Continental Congress, on the subject 


12 


DISCOURSE. 


of a surrender of the navigation of the Mississippi, in such 
a way as to conflict with the consistency of the State, he 
stepped forth and put the whole subject in its proper light. 
Whatever he did, was thoroughly done. The memorial on 
religious freedom prepared by him in 1780, in which he 
demonstrated, perhaps for the first time, the cardinal doc¬ 
trines which ought to control governments in matters of 
religion, was mainly efficient in putting an end to that un¬ 
natural connexion between church and state to which some 
of the ablest statesmen of the Revolution, guided by early 
prejudice, too closely adhered, and will henceforth appear, 
as well from the beauty of its style as from the weight of 
its philosophy, among the most conspicuous religious land¬ 
marks in the history of our race. He was the delight of 
the social circle, and seemed incapable of imputing a harsh 
motive to any human being; and to a young friend, fresh 
from a New England College, he spoke of Quincy, Otis, 
Daggett, Dexter, and the younger Sherman,—men who had 
opposed his administration with a zeal that brought them 
to the verge of disunion—with as deliberate an apprecia¬ 
tion of their merits as if they had held a far different 
course. But he preferred to dwell on incidents of an ear¬ 
lier period, and recalled to his young friends in his charm¬ 
ing way the memory of Witherspoon who blended so inti¬ 
mately the duties of the scholar and the statesman, and 
who was the guide of his youth,—of Franklin, and of the 
elder Sherman, with both of whom he had been intimate 
in early life. His wife, whose elegance diffused a lustre 
over his public career, and who was the light of his rural 
home, accompanied him to Richmond, and, as you left 
their presence, it was impossible not to rejoice that Provi¬ 
dence had allotted to such a couple an old age so lovely. 

But, prominent as was Mr. Madison in that Convention, 
none would allow sooner than he that he was among equals. 


DISCOURSE. 


13 


No individual could vie with him in his peculiar career in 
federal politics, nor in that happy combination of faculties, 
which, comprehending all classes of political subjects, had 
adorned them all. In general learning he was not only 
ahead of his contemporaries in that body, but may be said 
to have stood alone. Not even the raciness and research 
of Mr. Jefferson could surpass him ; and if he had devoted 
his time to jurisprudence, the student would not have been 
compelled, if he did not recognise them in Story, to look 
abroad for the blended strength and elegance of a Stowell. 
But there were men now before him, whose career was 
contemporaneous with his own, as well as others who had 
grown into eminence since the beginning of the century, 
who had shared or might well have shared divided empire 
with him. In surveying a body of men, the representatives 
of two generations, the observer, with a view of arranging 
them in their respective classes, would insensibly call to 
mind the leading epochs in the two great parties of the 
country, since the adoption of the federal constitution 
This period, at least for the present purpose, readily re¬ 
solves itself into four great epochs ; the first extending from 
the organization of the government in 1789 to the close 
of the administration of the elder Adams ; the second, 
from 1801 to the year 1806, when the restrictive policy of 
the administration made a breach in the ranks of the re¬ 
publican party; the third from 1806 to the close of the 
war in 1815 ; and the fourth from 1815 to the assembling 
of the Convention. Now of these important epochs the 
most influential personages were assembled in that hall. 

Of the first epoch—from 1789 to 1801, there were Mad¬ 
ison, Monroe, Marshall, Giles, Randolph, Taliaferro and 
Tazewell. The history of these names is the history of 
the period. Madison and Giles in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, and Monroe in the Senate, guided the counsels 


2 


/ 


14 


DISCOURSE. 


N. 


of one great party, until the two first in 1798, retired with 
a view of entering the General Assembly, and the last 
was sent as envoy to the French republic. Their influ¬ 
ence in their new spheres is known to all. Randolph did 
not enter the House of Representatives till 1799, and Taze- 
well, who had voted with Madison and Giles in the memo¬ 
rable session of the Assembly in 1799, and was elected to 
fill the vacancy made by the appointment of Judge Mar¬ 
shall to the War Department, did not take his seat till 1809. 

Here we approach one of those monumental names which 
make the era in which they appear their own. What Ed¬ 
mund Randolph said of himself is quite as applicable to 
John Marshall,—that he was a child of the Revolution. He 
had seen the first flash of the war at the Great Bridge, had 
been at Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and 
had gone forth under Steuben. In 1782 began his legal 
and political career; and from that time till 1796, he was 
at intervals a member of the House of Delegates. Here 
he won some of his greenest laurels. In the Virginia con¬ 
vention of 1788, he made a speech which called forth the 
praise of Madison. It was near the close of this epoch he 
entered the House of Representatives, and, although he 
remained but one session, and made but one regular speech, 
he gained great distinction, and was regarded as the leader 
of the administration of Adams in the Southern States. 
He had fought the battles of his party with such success 
in the House of Delegates, and had inspired such confi¬ 
dence in his patriotism and purity of purpose, that the lof¬ 
tiest honors of the Washington and Adams’ administrations 
were within his reach. Washington solicited him to accept 
the office of Attorney General and the mission to France; 
but he declined both; and it was only at the urgent solici¬ 
tation of the greatest names that he consented at a later 
period to accept the French mission. From the War he 


DISCOURSE. 


15 


passed to the State Department, and thence, in 1800, to 
the office of Chief Justice, which he filled until his de¬ 
cease in 183 5 , a space of more than thirty five years, dur¬ 
ing which he was the judicial arbiter of his country. This 
is not the place to review his judicial career; but it may 
•be said, that it was his singular glory that, though called 
from the fiercest political contests to decide questions which 
have been and are the themes of party discord, and con¬ 
cerning which there has been and will ever he a difference 
of opinion, he has not only escaped any serious suspicion 
of improper bias, but, by the supremacy of his genius and 
the simple majesty of his deportment, won the general ad¬ 
miration and regard. 

The personal appearance of Judge Marshall, and his 
manner of speaking, will be known to posterity from the 
descriptions of Wirt, and the British Spy is in every hand. 
He spoke but seldom in the Convention, and always with 
deliberation. I would say that an intense earnestness was 
the leading trait of his manner. His first speech was made 
at a time when a spirit of compromise began fo shew itself. 
When he had demonstrated conclusively that the federal 
basis was the mean proportional between the two extremes 
of the bases which had engaged the public attention, he 
examined with critical care the schemes which had been 
offered, and exhibited by way of comparison some calcu¬ 
lations of his own. He bore his testimony in favor of the 
County Court system, and defended it briefly but ably. It 
was in the discussion of the judicial tenure, that he came 
forth in all his strength. The question was virtually the 
same as that presented in Congress in 1802 on the repeal 
of the judiciary act; and what enhanced the interest of 
the debate, was the presence of Mr. Randolph, who report¬ 
ed the bill to repeal the judiciary act of 1800, and of Mr. 
Giles who had advocated the repeal in the House of Rep- 


16 


DISCOURSE* 


resentatives, and both of whom engaged in the present de¬ 
bate. He spoke with deep feeling, and, though pressed by 
Tazewell, Giles, and Barbour of Orange, he maintained his 
ground with surpassing skill; and when in conclusion, and 
under the full excitement of debate, he declared : “ I have 
always thought from my earliest youth till now, that the 
greatest curse an angry heaven ever inflicted upon an un¬ 
grateful and a sinning people, was an ignorant, a corrupt, 
or a dependent judiciary. Will you call down this curse 
on Virginia ?” all felt the power of his eloquence. Let me 
observe that the debate on the tenure of the judicial office— 
a debate in which Marshall, Tazewell, Leigh, Scott, Jon- 
son, Giles, Randolph, and Barbour of Orange, engaged;— 
was one of the most brilliant exhibitions of the Conven¬ 
tion. 

In the domestic relations of life, which, as they ever af¬ 
ford the true test of intrinsic worth, become the crowning 
grace of an illustrious character, he was beyond all praise. 
Great in intellect he undoubtedly was, but he was as good 
as he was great; and those who knew him longest and 
best, found it hard to say whether they regarded him most 
with veneration or love. 

But, however eminent as a debater, a statesman, and a 
jurist, it is in the garb of an historian that he will appear 
most frequently before the generations to come, and it is 
the only garb that sets ungracefully upon him. The life of 
Washington, if I may so speak, was made to order. The 
federal party was fast melting away. The administration 
of Jefferson was in the full tide of success. The alien law 
had'expired by its own limitation. The sedition law had 
also expired, and its victims were set free. The judiciary 
act had been swept from the statute-book. The charter of 
the Bank of the United States and the assumption act 
were in bad odor, and would have been repealed, if it had 


DISCOURSE. 


17 


been practicable. The excise law was numbered with the 
slain. Every vestige of the past dynasty was disappear¬ 
ing. A new generation, which partook of the opinions 
around it, was stepping on the stage. Now was the time 
for a master spirit to appear, who might not only recover 
the lost ground, but gain fresh conquests. Politicians of 
both parties had long known the abilities of John Marshall. 
He had broken the force of many a democratic measure in 
the House of Delegates. In the convention of 1788, he 
seized with great tact the phantoms which the genius of 
Henry had raised, reduced them to substantial forms, and 
broke them on the wheel of his resistless logic. His cor¬ 
respondence with the French Directory, and especially the 
celebrated letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, almost 
a book in itself, which, though signed by Gerry and Cotes- 
worth Pinckney, was from his pen, and which was not only 
unanswered but unanswerable, had been published in all 
the papers, and was universally applauded. His speech 
in the case of Jonathan Robbins, which was his first great 
effort in the House of Representatives, into which he en 
tered soon after his return from France, raised his reputa¬ 
tion still higher in the estimation alike of friends and op¬ 
ponents. And it was hoped that a history from his hand 
of the federal party during the administration of Wash¬ 
ington, and under the wing of his great name, would make 
a deep impression on the popular mind. But to be effec¬ 
tual it must come forth at once. The most courteous re¬ 
publican was not bound to wait for it. A princely sum, 
then unknown in the annals of American authorship, 
awaited its completion. And in due time, and in five vol¬ 
umes, it made its appearance. Mr. Jefferson was in the 
second year of his second term. He had been re-elected 
almost wi thout opposition. There was hardly a show of 
fight at the polls. To put down the doctrines of the party 


2 * 


18 


DISCOURSE. 


of which he was the head was the mission of the new 
book ; and, by a singular coincidence, simultaneously with 
the appearance of the book, occurred the schism in the 
republican party on the restrictive policy of the adminis¬ 
tration. Still it came too late. 

From the data already given, and with a knowledge of 
the fact that the author was engaged in performing official 
duties arduous enough to employ the time and all the fac¬ 
ulties of ordinary men, a literary geometer might have de_ 
scribed beforehand its essential form and character. Of 
all the kinds of writing that of history is most difficult. 
A great speech, a well-reasoned State paper, a fine poem, 
may be struck off from the impulse, or under the inspira¬ 
tion, of the moment; but to write history requires other 
and more complicated qualifications ; qualifications which 
cannot be conjured up for the nonce, and which are so 
rare, that, while the number of histories is legion, the 
names of the great historians, like those of the great epic 
poets, may be written in a nutshell. Probably, when Mar¬ 
shall undertook the composition of his work, he had-never 
contemplated with critical accuracy the distinctive merits 
of any great history. His early opportunities of acquiring 
knowledge were few ; and, instead of spending his youth 
and middle age in the closet with Hume and Gibbon, cull¬ 
ing phrases and recasting periods, he w T as engaged in the 
field contending for the liberties of his country, or in the 
busy strifes of the bar in pursuit of an honorable indepen¬ 
dence. But this explanation, while it accounts for the ab¬ 
sence of those qualities which make an excellent history, 
by no means supplies the defect. The result is, that the 
Life of Washington—I speak of the fifth and leading vol¬ 
ume of the first edition—is a strong off-hand argument in 
defence of the measures of the federal party during the 
administration of Washington, and, if it had been pronoun- 


DISCOURSE. 


19 


ced in the House of Delegates, or in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, it would have passed well enough, and only be¬ 
comes out of place when put into the mouth of the muse 
of history. As might fairly have been anticipated, a work 
from such a hand, though it was not to make a revolution 
in existing parties, produced a marked effect. Of its strictly 
literary merits, there was at home and abroad but one 
opinion; but, while the political friends of the author hailed 
its appearance with joy, and were quite willing to shelter 
themselves behind the massy bulwark which it reared in 
their defence, it was warmly condemned by the opposite 
party. Mr. Jefferson protested against it to the end of his 
life, and died in the full belief that Mr. Madison was pre¬ 
paring a counter-history, or at least a refutation of the 
fifth volume. Mr. Giles, at a late day, addressed a letter 
to the author, disclaiming certain expressions attributed to 
him, but not materially objecting, if I remember rightly, 
to their substantial meaning. It is proper to say that the 
second edition presents the work in a greatly amended 
form. The colonial history is separated from the body of 
the work, and has been revised with great care and respect 
for authorities then accessible. The style of the work is 
greatly improved in the new edition. Not only are the 
grammatical errors corrected, but the diction approaches to 
purity and sometimes to elegance. In a note to the second 
volume of the second edition, he examines at length the 
charges of Mr. Jefferson on the subject of the Mazzei let¬ 
ter, but does not allude to other objections urged by him 
against the work. From the blended influence of the names 
of Washington and Marshall, the history in its new form 
will always hold a place in our libraries, but it may be al¬ 
lowed the mere student of history as well as the states¬ 
man and the politician to regret that a history of the same 


I 


20 DISCOURSE. 

epoch from the pen of Madison does not exist to take its 
station by its side. 

No two eminent contemporaries appear at the first glance 
to have fewer points of friendly contact and connexion, if 
not of resemblance, than James Madison and John Mar¬ 
shall. In their persons, dress, manners and mind, they 
appear to be in strong contrast. Madison, from infancy to 
age, was of a delicate constitution, small in stature, scrupu¬ 
lously attentive to his dress, and, though accessible and 
easy of approach, and in the highest degree courteous, was, 
like most delicate men, naturally reserved. Marshall en¬ 
joyed robust health in his early years, was six feet high, 
was ordinarily regardless of his personal appearance, and 
was hearty in his address, retaining to the last the down¬ 
right cordiality of the camp. Madison w T as extremely so¬ 
cial in his feelings, but these were exhibited in his parlour 
from the walls of which the works of the first masters of 
painting were looking down upon him, or in his library in 
the midst of his cherished books, with far more zest than 
under the freshening influences of physical exertion. If 
he sought exercise, it was on a well-broken horse, or from 
a drive in his carriage. He had no taste or strength for 
the rougher modes of muscular exertion. Marshall never 
lost his youthful habits of early rising, of walks over hill 
and moor, which he had taken with a musket on his shoul¬ 
der and a knapsack on his back at the darkest hour of the 
Revolution, and of contests of personal strength. He 
would enjoy with as much relish a triumph on the quoit 
ground as at the bar, or on the bench. If Madison had 
lived in a city, he would have despatched every morning 
to market a well-dressed servant, with a tidy^basket on his 
arm, and supplied his table through him. Marshall did his 
own marketing, and not unfrequently brought it home with 
his own hands. The grounds of Madison’s town-residence 


DISCOURSE. 


21 


would have exhibited a specimen of landscape gardening, 
and a view in petto of the Virginian Flora. Marshall, like 
Stephen Girard, had no opinion of a plant or a tree that 
did not bear something for the support of human life ; and 
would have had a bed of fine cabbages or an orchard of 
delicious fruit. Madison spent his youth at Nassau Hall, 
as a student and resident graduate. Marshall had few op¬ 
portunities of acquiring knowledge in his boyhood, and 
was engaged in the labors of the farm. Madison, who was 
four years older than Marshall, chose the cabinet; Marshall 
took the battlefield and the bar. These diversities lie on 
the surface, and strike the attention at once. Yet it will 
appear that there were points of friendly contact and com¬ 
munion between these eminent men from the beginning to 
the end of their lives. Both were members of the House 
of Delegates prior to 1788, and exerted their influence to 
provide for the debt of the Revolution, and to amend the 
articles of confederation. When the federal constitution 
was formed, Madison and Marshall were among the ablest 
champions in sustaining it before the people. And when 
the Virginia federal convention was assembled, on Madi¬ 
son and Marshall, as much, if not more than on any other 
two men, did the responsibility of defending that instru¬ 
ment devolve. In the organization of the new govern¬ 
ment they went hand in hand. Both enjoyed the unlimi¬ 
ted confidence of Washington, and could have obtained 
the honor of a seat in his cabinet. Marshall went to France 
in 1797, but Madison had previously declined a mission to 
the same court. Both filled the office of Secretary of State 
at the most trying periods of our foreign relations, and 
acquitted themselves with equal honor. Marshall was call¬ 
ed to the highest seat in the federal judiciary, and Madi¬ 
son to the highest seat in the federal executive; yet the 
questions which engaged the attention of each, from tho 


22 


DISCOURSE. 


perplexed commercial relations of the period, were nearly 
the same. The famous tract of Stephen, “War in Dis¬ 
guise,” was as closely studied by Marshall as by Madison 1 
and, if Madison, as a politician, was required to refute it 
through the press, Marshall, as a judge, was compelled to 
examine its doctrines on the bench. From the commercial 
difficulties which existed from 1800, when Marshall took 
his seat on the bench, to 1817, when Madison retired from 
the Presidency, the number of topics of common interest 
between the Executive and Judiciary departments of gov¬ 
ernment was greater than it has been since, or will be 
again, unless it shall be our misfortune to see all Europe 
at loggerheads, and to be involved in a quasi-war with the 
two greatest commercial nations of the globe. These emi¬ 
nent men moved in different orbits, but were bound by a 
common law and a common sympathy. Both possessed 
minds of the highest order —magis pares quam similes —and 
peculiarly adapted to their respective spheres. Both were 
distinguished for their generous humanity, the strength of 
their friendships, and the moral beauty of their lives. And, 
fortunately, both were summoned by their country to afford 
their aid in revising the constitution of their native State ; 
and here—in this city—.where it had begun fifty years be¬ 
fore, and which had been uninterrupted by a solitary act 
or word of unkindness toward each other, both closed their 
long and illustrious political career. 

Among the names of this epoch which demand some¬ 
thing more than a passing notice, is that of William 
Branch Giles. He had taken his degree at Nassau PIall 
in 1781, ten years after Madison had taken his at the same 
college, and had the good fortune also of receiving the in¬ 
structions of Witherspoon, whose memory in familiar talk 
with his younger friends he delighted even in old age to 
recall. A member of the House of Representatives from 


DISCOURSE. 


23 


1790 to 1798, and from 1800 to 1803, and of the Senate of 
the United States from 1804 to 1815, he was beyond any 
other man the great champion of his party in public de¬ 
bate. That he performed his part successfully may be in¬ 
ferred from the fact that Mr. Jelferson pronounced him the 
ablest debater of the age. He was then the Governor of 
Virginia. In all things but in the vigor of his intellect, he 
was but the shadow of his former self. He could neither 
move nor stand without the aid of his crutches, and, when 
on the conclusion of his able speech on the basis question, 
the members pressed their congratulations upon him, he 
seemed to belong rather to the dead than the living. His 
face was the face of a corpse. Although he was four years 
younger than Monroe, seven younger than Marshall, and 
eleven younger than Madison, his personal appearance had 
suffered more from disease than that of any of his early 
contemporaries. To behold his rugged face and beetling 
brows, such as are now preserved in the portrait by Ford, 
it was difficult to believe that he was the handsome young 
man, radiant with health and arrayed in the rich costume 
of the last century, that is represented in one of the finest 
portraits from the easel of Stuart. 

He was strongly attached to the existing constitution, 
which he had defended in one of his ablest speeches two 
years before in the House of Delegates, and he evidently 
came to speak on the basis question with his life in his 
hand. To criticize the action of a dying man would be 
idle enough ; yet it was plain to see what were the cha¬ 
racteristics of his manner in his prime. His mode of speak¬ 
ing was conversational. His political illustrations were 
mainly drawn from the British constitution, and from the 
federal government, in the service of which so much of 
his life was spent. His range of reading beyond the com¬ 
mon walks of history did not appear extensive, and it was 


24 


DISCOURSE. 


obvious that he had paid but slight attention to the orna¬ 
mental departments of literature. His comparisons were 
usually drawn from common life, and before a Virginia 
audience he was irresistible. He had practised law with 
success four or five years before he entered the House of 
Representatives, and was always able, with some prepara¬ 
tion, to cope on legal topics with his ablest opponents. In 
his speech in the Convention on the judicial tenure, to 
which an allusion has already been made, he showed that 
he had not forgotten the excitements of a time long gone 
by, and gave to his auditors the best specimen which they 
had yet seen, of those powers of debate for which he was 
so justly renowned. It was his wish to speak on the sub¬ 
ject of corporations, and he had prepared himself carefully 
for the occasion, but, his increasing infirmities confining 
him almost constantly to his room, his resolutions were 
definitively acted upon during his absence. His published 
writings, though revised by himself, will afford posterity an 
imperfect standard in estimating his powers in debate. 

To those who are fascinated with the glitter of a public 
career the life of Mr. Giles presents a striking lesson. 
He had fought all the great battles of his party, many of 
them single handed, against the greatest odds and always 
with success, and borne the brunt of the fight from 1790 
to his retirement in 1815 from the Senate of the United 
States. He had defended the Report of 1799 in the House 
of Delegates, and was mainly relied upon to withstand the 
force of Patrick Henry, who had been elected to the As¬ 
sembly, but died before its meeting. He had more than 
any other individual, not excepting Mr. Madison, sustained 
the doctrines of his party in the House of Representatives 
and in the Senate, and was thoroughly committed to all its 
great measures. He had fought through the darkness of a 
long and cheerless night to the dawn of day, and just as 


DISCOURSE. 


%'S 

the day was breaking, and he felt that he might at length 
Vepose safely upon his well-earned laurels, a storm suddenly 
rose that was to sweep them from his brow. 

The session of the General Assembly of IS11-12 pre¬ 
sented a crisis in the history of parties. Issues that had 
been ringing for six years past in the public ear had sud¬ 
denly died away. Non-intercourse and embargo were no 
longer talked of. The war, which was to sink them for¬ 
ever, and to cover the country with a blaze of glory, had 
not yet been declared. For the first time since 1806, the 
republicans, so called, had recently received the aid of 
their dissenting brethren. The constitutionality of a Bank 
of the United States had brought them together at the 
preceding session. But in the interval Mr. Giles had ex¬ 
pressed some opinions in the Senate on the right of in¬ 
struction, which were not in unison with those of his party, 
but had declared in the strongest terms his readiness to obey 
the instructions of the Assembly, and to carry out to the 
utmost all its wishes. As he was the oldest public servant 
in Congress, and had borne aloft the ark of the political 
covenant at a stormy period, when most of those who were 
about to instruct him were in their swaddling clothes or in 
the first forms of the schools : as he had ever been prompt 
in the discharge of the most difficult and perplexing offi¬ 
ces of party, and had clung to the laboring oar while his 
compatriots had once and again sought the honor and profit 
of a foreign mission, or a seat in one of the departments 
or on the bench, or tasted the fruits of service in retire¬ 
ment, it would seem that a distinct affirmation of the prin¬ 
ciples of the Assembly, and an expression of its regret at 
the difference of opinion on this isolated question, coupled 
with an honorable recognition of the great services of Mr. 
Giles, were all that the occasion demanded. And in ordi¬ 
nary times such probably would have been the case. But 


26 


msTWKsir. 


such a policy was not suited to the mood of the tnarn&nt. 
It was a remarkable era of political fusion. Men, who hacl 
long eyed one another askance in the House of Delegates, 
now shook hands, inquired every morning after each other's 
health, and laughed immoderately at each other’s jokes. 
The lunch and the dinner Were potent weapons of the day. 
Cobwebs woven during the consulship of Plancus—- con - 
sule Planco -—were hurriedly brushed aside, and the long- 
imprisoned juice once more sparkled in the face of day. 
There was a commingling of old friends and old enemies, 
of federalists and republicans, and of that vigorous offshoot 
of one party, and the active ally of the other, the tertium 
quids , To bind together such a brotherhood two things 
were indispensable; a common ground to stand on, and a 
common victim. The first was found in the right of the 
Assembly to instruct the representatives of Virginia in the 
Senate of the United States, and the victim was found in 
the person of Mr. Giles. A more fortunate selection of a vic¬ 
tim could not have been made. To the tertium quids, who 
once loved him and hated him the more,-—whose schemes 
he had ever been the first to detect and the strongest to 
crush,—-he was thoroughly odious; be could not be more so 
than he was ; and these enemies had become the eager 
allies of his friends. The federalists, who never loved him 
and who hated him the less, but from whom of all men 
living he had the least to hope, delighted at the prospect of 
beholding the sacrifice of their most formidable foe by his 
own friends, clapped their hands and shouted Io Paean in 
the ecstasy of their joy. It was easy for the new brother¬ 
hood, under the influence of good dinners and old wine, to 
chat pleasantly of former times, to grow very loving, and 
insensibly to glide together to some half-way bouse in the 
past. It is a noteworthy fact in political ethics, that par¬ 
ties, when the danger is past, are too apt to sacrifice soon- 


DISCOURSE. 


27 


est those who were most prominent in defence of measures 
deemed vital at the time, but which in the retrospect ap¬ 
pear of doubtful policy. Mr. Giles, two or three years be- 
lore, had brought in a bill to define treason, defended it in 
a speech, and carried it through the Senate. He had also 
brought in a bill to suspend the writ of habeas corpus , sus¬ 
tained it in a speech, and carried it through the Senate. 
Unwise and dangerous measures these may have been at 
any time, but, when discussed over a glass of wine in a 
season of comparative tranquility, they were absolutely 
sinoeking. Still they were called for by a republican ad¬ 
ministration, and were upheld by its friends at a time when, 
condemnation, if ever, was justly due. These bills were 
defeated in the House of Representatives. Here was 
another fact for the new brotherhood. It separated the 
republicans of the House from those of the Senate ; and, 
if a Senator were sacrificed, the act might not only not 
reflect injuriously on the members of the House, but might 
imply an appreciation of their conduct. I do not affirm 
that these were the ostensible grounds of difficulty between 
Mr. Giles and the Assembly, nor is this the place to detail 
at length the controversy which ensued ; but whoever will 
took into the secret history of that day will be apt to con¬ 
clude, that the torch which was applied to the funeral pile 
of Giles was lighted at a fire kindled some years before for 
the sacrifice of a still more illustrious personage. The re¬ 
sult was that Mr. Giles came to the ground with a force, 
unknown in the annals of political tumbling. From a 
height of popularity almost unecpialled he became the 
most unpopular man in the State. He lingered in the 
Senate until the beginning of 1815, when he withdrew to 
the Wigwam. Years rolled on. A retributive ray of the 
public sunshine was at last seen to play about his hoary 
temples, and to cheer his brave old heart. He lived to be. 


28 


DISCOURSE. 


elected Governor thrice by a republican Assembly, and to 
gain distinction in a new sphere ; but he did not .ive to see 
that mighty master-spirit, now sitting near him, who press¬ 
ed the bitter cup to his lips, receive it on his own. 

The second great epoch extending from the accession of 
Mr. Jefferson in 1801 to the second term of his adminis¬ 
tration in 1806, was fully represented in that body. Madi¬ 
son, whose nomination to the Senate had been defeated by 
Patrick Henry, and who had hitherto appeared in the House 
of Representatives only, now bore on his shoulders the 
burden in no wise light of the State department. In the 
Senate Mr. Giles sustained the administration with increas¬ 
ing fame, while Monroe, who had exchanged his seat in 
the Senate for the mission to England, brought his untiring 
industry and zeal to bear in the same cause abroad. Ran¬ 
dolph and James Mercer Garnett, who were now in the 
House of Representatives, and Tazewell, who, unless when 
sent to the Assembly on some occasion of special interest 
to the people of Norfolk with whom he had now taken up 
his abode, was in private life, were toward the close of 
the term ranged in the opposition. Randolph had taken 
his seat in the House of Representatives in 1799, with but 
slight preparation for the new career he was about to be¬ 
gan. I am not aware that he ever spoke in public before he 
entered Congress. It is true that he was a candidate for 
Congress, when Patrick Henry, who was a candidate for a 
seat in the House of Delegates, made at the March court 
before the election from the porch of the old tavern at 
Charlotte Court House his last address to the people, but, 
having a severe cold, he was able to say a few words only ; 
and all reports to the contrary must be ranked amon^ those 
kindly myths which popular tradition delights to strew over 
the cradle of genius. He soon, however, attracted public 
attention by his fearlessness of spirit, and by the point and 


DISCOURSE. 


29 


brilliancy of his speeches in the house, and had now at¬ 
tained the responsible and laborious position at the head of 
the committee of ways and means. Thus far he had sailed 
"with the administration. "He had labored in the cause of 
retrenchment and reform with such indefatigable industry 
as seriously to impair his sight. He had made in his speech 
on the judiciary repeal bill by far his most brilliant display, 
•and had heartily approved the purchase of Louisiana;—a 
measure which he then saw in all its present usefulness, 
•and in all its glorious promise. From this date he declared 
unceasing war against his former friends. He well knew 
that the great party from which he was about to separate 
himself, guided by ancient associations, was disposed to 
regard France with kinder feelings than it did England, 
and he accordingly sought to put in train a course of mea¬ 
sures which would involve the country in a war with Spain, 
which necessarily involved a war with France. He oppo¬ 
sed with warmth the restrictive policy of the administra¬ 
tion, and in later life he has been heard to say, that “ when 
Mr. Jefferson made war upon his tobacco, he made war 
upon him and, as he is reported to have said, that his es¬ 
tate, when it came into his possession, was mortgaged nine¬ 
teen shillings and six pence in the pound, it is quite certain 
that a policy which checked the free interchange of com¬ 
modities with foreign nations, would prove most hostile to 
his private interests. Contemporaneously, however, with 
•his hostility to the party ©f which heretofore he had been 
a prominent member, was the appointment of a Minister 
to the Court of St. James, and it was rumored that private 
griefs were mixed up with his politics. That such a charge 
was generally believed at that day is certain, and that the 
administration believed that he desired the mission to Eng¬ 
land and declined to confer it upon him, is a fact which 
.seems to rest on unquestionable testimony. Whether Mr. 


3 * 


so 


DISCOURSE. 


Randolph was privy to any action in the premises, is ano¬ 
ther and a very different question. There, sitting within a 
few feet of him, was the man who could settle the question 
at once. Yet let those who are inclined to think that per¬ 
sonal feelings impelled Mr. Randolph in his new career, 
reflect upon his elevated position, and what it was to op¬ 
pose such a man as Mr. Jefferson. I have already alluded 
to the exalted position of Mr. Randolph in the House of 
Representatives, and before the country. If we were to 
judge of the popularity of Mr. Jefferson by the standard 
which we apply to modern Presidents, we would err widely. 
It was far-reaching and overwhelming. Nothing equal to 
it had been seen before; nothing equal to it has been seen 
since ; and nothing equal to it will, I trust, be seen again. 
Such was the fascinating address of that illustrious man, 
such the high estimate of his services abroad and at home, 
so universal was the confidence in his wisdom and ability, 
and, above all, in the goodness and purity of his aims, that 
in a contest with him any one man, or squad of men, would 
be indignantly cloven down. By others popularity must 
be wooed before it is won ; to him it came spontaneously 
on every breeze from the sterile hills of New Hampshire 
and from the remotest savannahs of that land of promise 
which he had recently added to the Union. While Wash¬ 
ington had been unable to command the vote of the Virgi- 
ginia delegation in either house of Congress, and could 
only secure the ratification of the British treat} 7- , on which 
he had set his heart, by a bare majority, the senators from 
his own state voting against it, it was only necessary for 
Mr. Jefferson to express a wish in favor of a measure to 
ensure its success. To go to war with such a man was to 
extinguish all hope of successful ambition. On the other 
hand it may well be thought strange, that a man, who had 
aided in bringing an administration into power, had de- 


DISCOURSE. 


31 


fended all its acts, and with the warmest zeal those most 
odious to its opponents, and had recently confessed his 
conviction of the honesty and purity of the men at the 
head of affairs, should suddenly turn about, and, disappro¬ 
ving a system of temporary policy, which his friends had 
been compelled, at an extraordinary period, to adopt, not 
for its intrinsic worth, but as the lesser of two evils, should 
not only draw the sword against them but fling away the 
scabbard. His efforts in such a position were an} 7 thing 
but refreshing. He was at once plunged into the midst of 
the federal party. Politicians have long memories. Men, 
who for the past seven years had been gritting their teeth 
at him across the desks of the House of Representatives, 
who believed that Randolph, though on their side to-day, 
might, if he were consistent, on a change of policy, be on 
the other to-morrow, and who knew better than he did the 
terrible strength of the administration, thought themselves 
sufficiently complaisant in adjusting their faces to a smile. 
To add to his embarrassment, though a few personal friends 
in and out of Congress upheld him, he saw in the popu¬ 
larity of the President, which was constantly increasing, 
that all his aspirations, if he had any, must henceforth be 
confined to the bosom in which they rose. Such was the 
state of things at the close of this period. 

Of the epoch extending from 1806 to the close of the 
war in 1815, the representatives in the Convention were 
more numerous. In its course Madison, who was to write 
his celebrated letters to Erskine, which, like those of Mr. 
Jefferson to Hammond, still exhibit the finest models of 
diplomatic writing in our history, and was to put forth his 
answer to Stephen, whose “ War in Disguise” was the 
text-book of the foreign and domestic foes of his adminis¬ 
tration, had become President, calling to the state depart¬ 
ment in due time his ancient coadjutor Monroe, with whom 


DISCOURSE. 


32 

he had adjusted, much to the annoyance of others, a very 
promising quarrel. Giles was the right arm of the domi¬ 
nant party in the Senate and had new duties to perform ; 
for Randolph had not only abdicated the leadership in the 
House, but had become an enemy. Randolph, Garnett, 
McCoy, Bayly, Pleasants, Philip P. Barbour and Taliaferro, 
were at different times members of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. Randolph still continued in his solitary path, 
opposing the policy of commercial restrictions, and, what 
was singular enough, the war. He seemed to be alike un¬ 
willing that the administration should defend the country 
against the commercial despotism of France and England 
by legislative enactments and by the sword. He would 
not only allow our merchant ships to be seized, our sailors 
to be impressed, and our property to be confiscated by 
England, in violation of the laws of nations and of her 
own municipal law, but, though the ships of the enemy 
filled our waters and his feet were pressing our soil, he 
was unwilling that the administration should use either law 
or lead in our defence. His efforts, though frequent and 
long-continued, were of no avail, unless it be affirmed that 
the equivocal merit was his of transferring the honor of ac¬ 
quiring Florida from Thomas Jefferson to John Quincy 
Adams, whose pen at a later day was to win its fairest tro¬ 
phy in accomplishing a measure of such vital importance 
to the Southern States. Yet it was during this period that 
he spoke with the greatest preparation, and one of his 
speeches was not only republished in England with a lau¬ 
datory preface by Stephen, the author of War in Disguise, 
but had the honor, then deemed no trifling one, of a review 
in the Edinburg; and it is to this period that the admirers 
of Randolph must look for the most vigorous productions 
of his mind. His speech on Gregg’s resolution is one of 
Ids greatest efforts, and, if it has not the polish of his later 


DISCOURSE. 


33 


speeches, it shows the body of his mind in bolder relief. 
But, if Mr. Randolph gained reputation abroad, he lost it 
throughout the Union and at home. The state of Georgia, 
which had hailed his talents with enthusiastic applause, 
became so indignant at his course, that she blotted his name 
from her statute book and from her map. And in 1813 he 
was no longer returned to the House. 

Of the new members who appeared in the House of 
Representatives during this period none has made a more 
lasting impression on the country,and won greater distinction 
for himself, than Philip Pendleton Barbour. He came 
in toward its close. He had defended the administration 
in the Assembly and before the people, and was about to 
embark on a new and dangerous sea. But we must trace 
him in the Convention. That body was fortunate in avail¬ 
ing itself, on the retirement of Mr. Monroe, of the services 
of such a man at its most difficult crisis. He had filled 
the Speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives, and 
brought to his new office the knowledge and the tact which 
the occasion demanded. If he had not the personal presence 
of his friend Clay, or of another eminent Virginian who 
afterwards filled the chair of the House of Representatives, 
he was, perhaps, superior to either in a knowledge of the 
logic and law of parliament. The most intricate skein of 
parliamentary difficulties seemed to unravel at his touch, 
and such was the confidence in his judgment and sense of 
honor, that his decisions, which were almost electric, were 
always satisfactory. As a speaker, his great aim seemed 
to be to apply mathematical reasoning to moral and politic 
eal topics, and to give his speeches the terseness and pith 
of a judicial decision. Few productions could stand the 
test of his severe analysis; and it is said that Mr. Clay, as 
his published speeches show, would not take the floor on 
constitutional questions until Barbour had spoken, Iiis 


34 


DISCOURSE. 


voice was shrill and sharp; too angular for the public ear. 
His speech on the basis question is a fair sample of his 
mode of conducting an argument. He spoke with great 
fluency, and with much emphasis and gesticulation, and, 
intent on demonstrating the case in hand, thought the form 
of his argument needed not the aid of drapery. He was 
apt to apply his own standard of style and manner in esti¬ 
mating the eloquence of others, and when a person spoke 
in his presence of the eloquence of Daniel Webster, he 
admitted in all their extent the reasoning powers of that 
distinguished statesman, but not only denied his title to 
eloquence but the title of any man born east of the Hud¬ 
son. Settling his creed in early life on the solid basis of 
demonstration, he continued to the end of his career the 
unfaltering advocate of all its great doctrines; and, al¬ 
though, unfortunately for his consistency, he was prevailed 
upon to withdraw his opposition to the bill incorporating 
the late bank of the United States, which was sure to pass 
without his vote, yet all the persuasions of Mr, Madison, 
whose representative he was, and of other friends, could 
not prevail upon him to follow the example of the party 
which had carried the country triumphantly through the 
war, and sustain that measure. He was about the middle 
height, remarkably thin, and rarely in robust health. He 
was plain in his dress, simple in his tastes, retiring in his 
habits. His early education was defective, and, although 
he had a general notion of what the Latin classics contain¬ 
ed, there was that incompleteness in his knowledge which 
usually marks attainments in the languages made late in 
life, and he was more apt to make out the Latin from the 
sense than the sense from the Latin. Of course, he was 
altogether unversed in the critical niceties of that lan¬ 
guage ; a defect which would have passed unobserved but 
for the frequent attempts which he made in the teeth of 


DISCOURSE. 


3.5 


the rule of Horace to coin words of his own. Hence it 
might well happen that persons who observed his attempts 
in philology which he thought he understood but of which 
he was really ignorant, would be prone to draw very un¬ 
fair conclusions respecting his knowledge on other subjects 
as well as of his general ability. A strict economist from 
principle, he could walk with the Guy on of Spencer un¬ 
tempted amid the glittering treasures of the cave of Mam¬ 
mon ; and when the state of Virginia remitted him what 
in those days was deemed a large fee for his services in 
the case of Cohens, he declined receiving it. It was on 
this occasion that he first came in contact with William 
Pinkney who was counsel for the appellants, and of whom, 
long alter the grave had closed above that eminent lawyer, 
he ever spoke in terms of high admiration. He was a 
close student, and, amid the distractions of a long public 
career, never lost sight of the law. When a friend once 
called upon him during the winter of the Convention, he 
found him reading one of the volumes of Reports which 
had just appeared, and which, he said, afforded him a choice 
entertainment. He paid but little attention to literature, 
and in the lighter departments of letters he was so unin¬ 
formed as never to have heard of Major Dugald Dalgetty 
of Drumthwacket, until Mr. Randolph introduced him to 
his acquaintance, and some time after, learning from a let¬ 
ter of a friend the history of the Major, he told it to his 
associates as a piece of news. Like Mansfield, he was 
more attached to law than to politics, and would have pre¬ 
ferred the first seat on the bench to the first seat in the 

cabinet. In 1836, after a short term of service in the 

% 

District Court, his aspirations were gratified with a seat on 
the bench of the Supreme Court. He had now attained 
the goal of his ambition, and all his faculties were called 
into full play. The federal constitution had been the study 


DISCOURSE. 


36 

of his life, and the leading cases of the reports involving 
a conflict of the powers of the state and federal govern¬ 
ments were well known to him ; but there were depart¬ 
ments of the law, reared, during the third of a century 
then past, by a Stowell in the British Courts, and by Mar¬ 
shall and Story in our own, that were in a measure new 
to him ; for, living within the shadow of the Blue Ridge, 
those important topics of his profession which bore the 
fragrance of the sea had not befen brought ordinarily be¬ 
fore him. But with Barbour to see a defect was to mend 
it;—to have an object in view was, as far as industry and 
sheer ability could go, to attain it. He was of all men 
whom I have known most devoted to an advancement in 
knowledge. He never stood still, nor halted by the way- 
side. He went from topic to topic. The acquisitions of 
one year became the solid foundations of those of the next. 

I have said that the law was his master passion. He loved 
those studies which are the handmaids of the law. Poli¬ 
tical economy and history were his delight. Not that his¬ 
tory which Dr. Johnson defined to be the best, and which 
modern historians approve.—>a history of morals or man¬ 
ners, but the political history of a country. Man in his 
political, not in his social, capacity was his study. He 
passed without interest over the description of a great bat¬ 
tle, but looked closely to its results. Marathon, Morat, 
Waterloo, were soon read, but he never was tired of look¬ 
ing at the details ot the Achaian or Amphyctionic league, 
of the Swiss confederation, of that condition of France 
when the feather of a Duke of Burgundy overshadowed 
the house of Orleans, or when the departments were amal¬ 
gamated into a single system, and of the state of Europe 
when it was cut up by the sword of Napoleon and cut 
down by the goose-quill of Castlereagh. It was his mis¬ 
fortune never to have had access to a good library of the 


DISCOURSE. 


37 


law ;—one that held its antiquities and the great landmarks 
in its history. Nothing would have afforded him more ex¬ 
quisite delight than to have been able, instead of resting 
on the authority of Coke, to trace for himself Magna Charta 
through all its confirmations back to Runnimede and from 
Runnimede forward to the time when an elector of Hano¬ 
ver sat upon a British throne. As his learning was ever 
in the field of facts, not of imagination, he was irresistible 
in conversational debate. The recollection of the conflict 
at a Wistar party in Philadelphia between Mathew Carey 
and himself is still a subject of mirth to those who saw the 
discomfiture of the champion of a different system from 
his own. In his new sphere on the federal bench an illi¬ 
mitable field stretched far and wide before him. With the 
gigantic mind of Marshall he had long been intimate—in 
the very body in which he then sat, in the debate on the 
judicial tenure, he had sensibly felt its force; but it was in 
his daily associations with the accomplished Story that he 
learned to feel, perhaps for the first time, the undying 
grace which letters shed upon the law. His improvement 
during the four years he sat upon the bench was striking. 
In an elegant tribute to his memory Judge Story states, 
that “ during his brief career in the Supreme Court, he 
widened and deepened the foundations of his judicial 
learning to an extraordinary extent; his reputation con¬ 
stantly advanced, and his judgments were listened to with 
increased respect and profound confidence. If he had 
lived many years with good health, he would not have fail¬ 
ed to have won the highest distinction for all those quali¬ 
ties which give dignity and authority to the bench. It 
might be truly said of him that he was not only equal to 
all the functions of his high station but above them —par 
negotiis et supra. His country has lost by his death not 
only a bright ornament but a pure and spotless patriot.” 


4 


38 


DISCOURSE. 


A beautiful tribute from one who was himself worthy of 
all praise, and who, like Barbour, is now only seen through 
that glorious light which exalted genius and virtue cast 
upon the grave. As it was, Virginia delighted to behold 
in Barbour the venerated name of her Pendleton invested 
with a new and appropriate illustration. 

The fourth epoch in the organization of parties, extending 
from 1815, when the financial measures consequent upon the 
war with England which had just terminated, were adopted, 
to the period of the assembling of the Convention, embraced 
the history of some of the most eminent men in the body. 
Monroe soon succeeded Madison in the Presidency. Mar¬ 
shall was still on the bench. Giles, who was to yield to 
the thunderstorm, the first blasts of which he had defied, 
had not at the beginning of this period resigned his seat in 
the Senate. Tazewell was to begin his splendid career in 
the same body, in which his father had sat before him, both 
father and son succeeding, at a long interval, the same in¬ 
dividual, the late John Taylor of Caroline. Pleasants, 
Randolph, and Tyler, during this period, also held seats 
in the Senate, Tazewell and Tvler at that time beiim the 
representatives of Virginia in that body. In the House of 
Representatives, Mercer, who in our own House of Dele¬ 
gates had attained distinction, and in the establishment of 
the Literary Fund had reared an imperishable memorial of 
his wisdom and benevolence, was to make his appearance. 
Alexander, Philip P. Barbour, John S. Barbour, McCoy, 
Pleasants, Powell, Randolph, Roane, Smith, and Tyler, 
were also at various times members of the blouse. A 
more brilliant delegation was rarely, if ever, contributed 
by a single state to the federal councils. Of the living I 
may not speak at length, and I regret that in this hurried 
sketch I am compelled to pass over so many of the dead. 
Randolph, who had resumed his seat in the House at the 


DISCOURSE. 


39 


next Congress after his defeat, appeared henceforth in a 
more auspicious light. The policy which had separated 
him from his early friends for the past ten years was at an 
end. Now it was his good fortune to remain, as he said 
on another occasion, rectus in curia , and his ancient friends 
of the dominant party, who were to expunge some of 
their own principles from their creed, were to bend before 
him. A new scene in political affairs presented itself. 
The public debt was enhanced many millions. Taxes 
must be levied to pay the interest and to create a sinking 
fund for the ultimate redemption of the principal. Manu¬ 
facturers, which grew up during the restrictive policy and 
the war, now appealed to the friends of those measures in 
their behalf. All the expedients of finance were scon 
found to be necessary, and a bill to incorporate a bank of 
the United States was brought in by those who had nobly 
sustained the honor of the country through the perilous 
period which had just closed, but who had hitherto con¬ 
tested the constitutionality of such a measure. Randolph, 
for the first time in the past ten years, stood in the broad 
sunlight of his ancient faith. Free from the responsibility 
of providing for the results of a policy which he had stea¬ 
dily opposed, he had no inducement to depart from his 
principles and embark in a new crusade. He thought that, 
if a bank was unconstitutional when Jefferson delivered 
his written opinion on the subject in the cabinet of Wash¬ 
ington, and when Madison made his great speech against 
it in the House of Representatives and prepared a veto 
for Washington in the event of his deciding to return a 
bill incoporating such an institution to Congress, it was 
unconstitutional then. And if it was unconstitutional as 
late as 1811, when the old bank sought a renewal of its 
charter, and was denounced by the dominant party, it was 
unconstitutional then. And on the score of expediency, 


40 


DISCOURSE. 


if it were inexpedient when the federal government was 
just stepping from its cradle under the guidance of Wash¬ 
ington, when our foreign and domestic debts were un- 
provided for—when the very price of liberty was unpaid,— 
when our population, then small in numbers, had but re¬ 
cently exchanged the camp for the counting-house and the 
sword for the plough;—it was not less so, at a time when 
our country reached, not from Maine to Georgia, but from 
the Passamoquoddy to the Gulf of Mexico,—when our 
numbers had more than tripled ;—when our commercial 
marine had borne our Hag in every sea, and brought to our 
shores the treasures of every clime, and surpassed the 
tonnage of every nation except England under the sun. 
But he was to stand almost alone. Did Madison blush as 
he signed that bill? Did Marshall, when from that serene 
throne on which he had been sitting for sixteen years, and 
who, in a few years, was to record for distant ages his 
great decision in its favor, look over the ayes and noes on 
the passage of the bill with a smile of triumph or a sneer? 
Did Monroe, who had received on his person some of the 
sturdiest blows of the opposite party when Washington was 
its nominal head, and who was deemed a martyr in the re¬ 
publican cause—did Monroe, in the State Department or 
at the Council board, shed a solitary tear over the departed 
dogma ? Did Randolph, on the passage of that bill, grieve 
more for the constitution which he believed to be violated 
in the house of its friends, than he -rejoiced as he saw his 
ancient Iriends, who had read him out of the republican 
church, involved in the meshes of a policy from which his 
intuitive sagacity foresaw that they could not extricate 

themselves for a generation to come ? There they are_ 

Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Randolph,-—gathered for the 
first time together under the same roof and in the same 
hall—they can speak for themselves. 


DISCOURSE. 


41 


Of all the members of the Convention Mr. Randolph 
excited the greatest curiosity. Not a word that fell from 
his lips escaped the public ear, not a movement the public 
eye. "When he rose to speak, the empty galleries began 
to fill, and when he ended, and the spell was dissolved, 
the throng passed away. It was on the 14th of Novem¬ 
ber he made his first speech. Mr. Stanard had just con¬ 
cluded his speech, and the question on the amendment of 
Judge Green to the resolution of the Legislative committee 
basing the representation in the House of Delegates on 
white population exclusively was about to be taken, when 
he rose to address the chair. The word passed through 
the city in an instant that Randolph was speaking, and 
soon the house, the lobby, and the gallery, were crowded 
almost to suffocation. He was evidently ill at ease when 
he began his speech, but soon recovered himself when he 
saw the telling effect of every sentence that he uttered. 
He spoke nearly two hours, and throughout that time every 
eye was fixed upon him, and among the most attentive of 
his hearers were Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, who had 
not heard him before since his rupture with the adminis¬ 
tration of their predecessor in the Presidency. From that 
day he addressed the body with perfect self-possession, and 
although he did not at any subsequent time speak at length, 
he frequently mingled with marked ability in debate ; and 
it was easy to tell from the first sentence that fell from his 
lips when he was in fine tune and temper, and on such 
occasions the thrilling music of his speech fell upon the 
ear of that excited assembly like the voice of a bird singing 
in the pause of the storm. It is difficult to explain 
the influence which lie exerted in that body. He inspired 
terror to a degree that even at this distance of time seems 
inexplicable. He was feared alike by East and West, by 
friend and foe. The arrows from his quiver, if not dipped 


4* 


42 


DISCOURSE. 


in poison, were pointed and barbed, rarely missed the mark, 
and as seldom failed to make a rankling wound. He seem¬ 
ed to paralyse alike the mind and body of his victim. 
What made his attack more vexatious, every sarcasm took 
effect amid the plaudits of his audience. He called him¬ 
self on one occasion a tomahawker and a scalper, and, 
true to the race from which he sprung, he never explained 
away or took back any thing; and, as he knew the private 
as well as the public history of every prominent member, 
it was impossible for his opponents to foresee from what 
quarter and on whom his attacks would fall. He also had 
political accounts of long standing to settle with sundry 
individuals, and none could tell when the day of reckon¬ 
ing would arrive. And when it did come, it was a stern 
and fearful one. What unnerved his opponents was a con¬ 
viction of his invulnerability apparent or real; for, uncon¬ 
nected as he was by any social relation, and ready to fall 
back on a colossal fortune, he was not on equal terms with 
men who were struggling to acquire a competency, and 
whose hearts were bound by all the endearing ties of do¬ 
mestic love. Moreover, it was impossible to answer a 
sneer or a sarcasm with an argument. To attempt any 
thing of the kind was to raise a laugh at one’s expense. 
Hence the strong and the weak in a contest with him were 
upon the same level. 

In early youth the face of Mr. Randolph was beautiful, 
and its lineaments are in some degree preserved in his 
portrait by Stuart; but, as he advanced in life, it lost its 
freshness, and began to assume that aspect which the poet 
Moore described in his diary as a young-old face, and which 
is so faithfully pourtrayed by Harding. His voice, which 
was one of the great sources of his power, ranged from 
tenor to tieble. It had no base notes. Its volume was full 
at times; but, though heard distinctly in the hall and the 


DISCOURSE. 


4‘3 


galleries, it had doubtless lost much of the sweetness and 
roundness of earlier years. Its sarcastic tones were on a 
high key. He was, too, though he had the art to conceal 
his art from common observers, a consummate actor. In 
the philosophy of voice and gesture, and in the use of the 
pause, he was as perfect an adept as over trod the boards 
of Covent Garden or Drury Lane. When he described 
Chapman Johnson as stretching his arm to intercept and 
clutch the sceptre as it was passing over Rockfish Gap, 
or when he rallied him for speaking not “ fifteen minutes as 
he promised, but two hours, not by Shrewsbury clock, but 
by as good a watch as can be made in the city of London,” 
and, opening the case of his hunting watch, held it up to 
the view of the chairman ; or, when seeking to deride the 
length of Johnson’s speech, he said : “ The gentleman said 
yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that,” 
Garrick or Kean would have crowned his acting with ap¬ 
plause. No weight of character, no grade of intellect, 
afforded a shield impenetrable by his shafts. Probably the 
committee to which was referred near its close all the re¬ 
solutions of the Convention with a view of having them 
drawn in the form of a constitution, was the most venera¬ 
ble in years, in genius, in all the accomplishments of the 
human mind, and in length and value of public service, 
that ever sat on this side of the Atlantic. Madison, Mar¬ 
shall, Tazewell, Doddridge, Watkins Leigh, Johnson, and 
Cooke were the seven members who composed it. Yet 
Mr. Randolph, almost without an effort, raised a laugh at 
their expense. It appears, if I am not mistaken, that some 
qualification of the right of suffrage, which was embraced 
in the resolutions, was not to be found in the reported 
draft, and to this omission Mr. Randolph called the atten¬ 
tion of the house. Mr. Leigh observed that, if Mr. Ran¬ 
dolph’s views were carried out, it would virtually leave 


44 


DISCOURSE. 


the entire regulation of the right of suffrnge to the General 
Assembly. Randolph replied with all his peculiar empha¬ 
sis and gesture: “ Sir, I would as soon trust the house of 
burgesses of the commonwealth of Virginia as the com¬ 
mittee of seven I followed his finger, and amid the roar 
of laughter which burst forth, I saw Mr. Madison and Mr. 
Leigh suddenly and unconsciously bow their heads. He 
idolised Shakspear, and cherished a taste for the drama; 
and in this department of literature as well as in that of 
the older English classics from Elizabeth to Anne, and in¬ 
deed, in all that was embraced by the curiosity and taste of 
a scholar, his library was rich. He spoke and wrote the 
English language in all its purity and elegance, and his 
opponents had at least the gratification of knowing that 
they were abused in good English. Indeed Madison could 
not vie with him in a full and ready control over the vo¬ 
cabulary or the harmony of the English tongue. His later 
speeches exemplify this remark in a more striking manner 
than his earlier ones. In his speech on Retrenchment de¬ 
livered in the House of Representatives in 1828, one 
meets with sentences of great beauty, and it may be ob¬ 
served, that toward the close of that speech is one of the 
few pathetic touches to be found in his productions. Yet 
it may well be doubted whether his speeches will hold a 
high place in after times. LI is sayings will be quoted in 
the South, and some of his speeches will undoubtedly be 
read; but they will hardly emerge beyond Mason and 
Dixon’s line, and never reach even within that limit the 
dignity of models. What Sir James McIntosh observed 
to an American respecting one of his speeches will proba¬ 
bly convey, when oral tradition grows faint, the impres¬ 
sion which they make on impartial minds,—that there was 
a striving after effect—a disposition to say smart or hard 
things beyond the ability. On the score of argument they 


DISCOURSE. 


45 


were beneath criticism. It is but just, however, to say 
that Mr. Randolph protested against the authenticity of 
most of the speeches attributed to him. Those in the pub¬ 
lished debates of the Convention are undoubtedly authen¬ 
tic, and must have received his revisal. But of his elo¬ 
quence thus much may fairly be said, that it fulfilled its 
office in its day and generation ; for it is unquestionably 
his praise that above all his contemporaries he was.suc¬ 
cessful in fixing the attention of his audience of every 
class and degree throughout his longest speeches. The 
late Timothy Pitkin, a competent judge, who had known 
Randolph many years in Congress, observed, at a time 
when it was fashionable to compare Tristram Burgess with 
him, that you may as well compare the broadsword of a 
mosstrooper with the scymitar of Saladin. When it is 
remembered that Mr. Randolph, at all times infirm, was 
sometimes during the winter of the Convention in his own 
opinion at the point of death, it is a fact of great import, 
that at no other period of his career did he speak with 
more judgment and acuteness, nor on any other occasion 
did he so entirely gain the regards of the people of Eas¬ 
tern Virginia, or his genius excite greater admiration than 
by his exhibition in that body. 

As we began this division of our subject with the name 
of Madison, we may not unfitly close it with a name which 
has been intimately associated with his for half a century, 
and which, though it has been prominently put forth al¬ 
ready, calls for, at least so far as the Convention is con¬ 
cerned, a few passing remarks. The name of James 
Monroe has yet to receive the exalted appreciation which 
it deserves, and which posterity will surely award. He 
lived so near our own time ;—^his administration gave birth 
to so many important questions about which parties have 
formed and rallied, that it is only from the pen of the his- 


46 


DISCOURSE. 


torian, who from the vantage ground of the distant future 
shall look back upon the past, that his character will re¬ 
ceive a full and candid illustration. Allusion has been 
made to his service in the field during the Revolution, to 
his course in the Virginia federal convention, his mission 
to France, his election to the Senate of the United States, 
his mission to Great Britain, his nomination to the war and 
to the state department, and his elevation to the Presidency 
as the successor of the illustrious man whom he followed 
step by step throughout a long and glorious life. If to 
these appointments be added his election to the House of 
Delegates, especially in 1810, when he made a speech re¬ 
markable rather by the illustrations drawn from the history 
of the French Republic which he had personally observed, 
and the sound practical views with which it abounded, 
than by rhetorical skill, and his election to the office of 
Governor of this Commonwealth, the list of the offices 
held by him will be nearly complete. Of all the men who 
had filled the office of President of the United States to 
the period of his election to that high station, with the ex¬ 
ception of Washington, his person was the most generally 
known by the people. He had mingled so freely with his 
fellow-men abroad and at home ;—he had so frequently 
come in personal contact with the generation in which he 
lived, that hundreds of people who had never seen a more 
important personage than a captain in the army or navy, a 
member of Congress, or at most the head of a department, 
had not only seen him but shaken hands with him, and 
heard from his honest lips words of kindness and regard. 
He was borne into the presidential chair of the Union with¬ 
out a contest. His election and re-election seemed a mat¬ 
ter of course. Strangely as it may sound in our ears, 
there was a prestige of military glory about him, which 
bound him to the hearts of the people. He was the first 


DISCOURSE. 


47 


incumbent of the chair since Washington filled it, who had 
seen the flash of a hostile gun, and had drawn his sword 
in defence of his country. As has been said, the time is 
not come, when an impartial history of his administration 
can be written; but we may be allowed to say that the 
most brilliant and honorable career that was ever present¬ 
ed to an American president was then before him. Wash¬ 
ington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, were beset with 
difficulties foreign and domestic, which consumed their 
entire terms of office. When Monroe came into power, 
the perplexities in our foreign affairs, which in one shape 
or other from the peace of Paris to near the close of Madi¬ 
son’s term had worried every administration, and which, 
if they did not create, kept alive the party organizations of 
the day, were at an end. If we except a solitary question 
which had been settled for a term of years, a carte blanche 
of our foreign and domestic policy was within the grasp of 
his hand. In the selection of his cabinet, so far as the 
talents and the patriotism of its members were concerned, 
he was most fortunate. If we exclude the first adminis¬ 
tration of Washington, the country had not seen so able a 
cabinet. But, with the single remark that, w r hatever may 
be the opinions entertained of its policy, there was but one 
opinion of the honesty and unblemished purity of its head, 
we drop a veil over this portion of his history. 

When Mr. Madison nominated Mr. Monroe for the chair 
of the Convention, he was aware of his physical inability 
to perform any laborious service ; but he might have re¬ 
membered that Pendleton, who presided in the Virginia 
federal convention, was in appearance more of an invalid 
than Monroe, and had performed the duties of the office 
with the recorded approbation of the body. But the na¬ 
ture of the two bodies was wholly dissimilar. In the fed- 

V 

eral convention, the main object of which was to consider 


48 


DISCOURSE. 


a constitution ready made, and which must be accepted or 
rejected as a whole, the discussions were conducted in the 
committee of the whole altogether, and the president was 
only called upon to occupy the chair for a few moments 
at the beginning and at the close of the daily session. Of 
the twenty seven days during which the convention held 
its sittings, Pendleton probably did not preside three entire 
days. The ayes and noes were called but three times du¬ 
ring the session. The Convention of 1829-30 presented a 
very different scene. Here was no constitution ready 
made and to be ratified or rejected as a whole, but a con¬ 
stitution was to be made under circumstances of extraordi¬ 
nary delicacy. There was hardly a prominent member 
who had not a plan of his own on paper or in his brain, 
or, if his scheme did not embrace an entire system, it fas¬ 
tened on one of the great departments. Others came 
charged with a reformation of the County Courts, the abo¬ 
lition of the Council, and the regulation of the right of 
suffrage. The members on the most important question of 
the day had made up their minds, and one great division 
of the state was arrayed against the other. To preside in 
such a body required not only a critical knowledge of the 
law of parliaments, and the utmost readiness in its appli¬ 
cation, but a capacity of physical endurance which is not 
often possessed by men who have passed the prime of life. 
It is true that much was done in committee of the wholes 
but the final battle on every question must be fought in 
the house. For such a station, which required such a rare 
ability of mind and body, it is not uncourteous to say that 
Mr. Monroe, who was never much conversant with public 
assemblies, and was more infirm than either Madison or 
Marshall, was wholly unfit. Fortunately, before the day 
of severe trial came, he withdrew from the house, and left 
the toil and the honor of his responsible position to another. 


DISCOURSE. 


49 


Yet, while he remained a member, he engaged more than 
once in discussion ; and, though, at that period of intense 
excitement, his speech on the basis was listened to more 
as a means of knowing on which side of a question which 
was ultimately decided in a house of ninety six members 
by two votes his vote would be cast, rather than from any 
regard of its matter or its manner of delivery, he spoke 
more readily, and with greater self-possession, than might 
have been anticipated from one so advanced in life and so 
long retired from popular bodies. His animated de¬ 
scription of the murder of a member in the midst of the 
French National Convention by a mob which march¬ 
ed among the members with the severed head of their vic¬ 
tim stuck upon a pole ; a murder which was perpetated in 
his presence while he was the minister near the Republic, 
and which, though he had described it in his speech in the 
House of Delegates twenty years before, was heard by 
most of the members for the first time, made a strong im¬ 
pression. The resignation of the chair and of his seat 
was received with the deepest respect, and there was a 
shade of sorrow on every face when it was officially stated 
that his venerable form would be seen in that hall no more, 
and that so great and so good a name would no longer 
adorn the records of the house. 

I have thus far dwelt on that aspect of the Convention 
which presented the greatest attraction to persons from 
abroad ; it is now my purpose to regard it more in the light 
in which it appeared among ourselves. The members who 
had served in the federal councils deserved all the con¬ 
sideration which they enjoyed ; but those who had not 
then appeared beyond our limits possessed abilities of the 
highest order, and had won a distinguished reputation at 
home. And it was soon seen that upon them mainly de¬ 
volved the most important labors of the body. Doddridge* 


5 


50 


DISCOURSE, 


Upshur, Morris, Baldwin, Scott, Cooke, Joynes, Broadnax, 
Summers, Fitzhugh, Johnson, Leigh, and others, busily 
engaged in the pursuits of private life, had not passed be¬ 
yond the limits of Virginia, but had long been engaged in 
her service, and excited the greatest interest among the 
people. There was also a brilliant coterie of a younger 
date, who had already been prominent in the Assembly, 
and were destined to rise to still greater distinction abroad; 
and let me say to you, sir, that nothing so much impresses 
upon my mind the rapidity with which we are passing 
away, as the reflection that nearly three score years have 
rolled over the heads of Mason of Southampton, Mason 
of Frederick, Goode, Morgan, Gordon, Loyall, Logan, 
Moore, Thompson, and others of that gallant groupe ; and 
I am sure you will join with me in paying the passing tri¬ 
bute of a tear to the memory of one—not the least brilli- 

* 

ant of them all—the lamented Dromgoole. But to our 
task. 

It will be remembered that the first great speech on the 
basis question was pronounced by Judge Abel Parker Up¬ 
shur of Northampton. He had spent his youth at Prince¬ 
ton, and early devoted himself to the study of the law. 
He entered the House of Delegates in 1819, and was a 
member at intervals until his elevation to the bench of the 
General Court, of which he was then a member. He was 
in the full vigor of manhood, having just attained his forti¬ 
eth year. He was called unexpectedly to the floor, but he 
more than fulfilled the public expectation. His command¬ 
ing person, his graceful and animated action, the unequalled 
strength and beauty of his argument, the accidental yet 
fortunate position he occupied on the floor, which enabled 
him to see and be seen by the hundreds who thronged that 
hall, produced a fascinating effect. Persons from abroad, 
who had come to listen to the eloquence of the eminent 


DISCOURSE. 


51 


men whose names had become the household words of the 
country, heard his speech during the two days of its de¬ 
livery with astonishment mingled with delight. The East 
could not have opened the campaign under more favorable 
auspices. Nor was the effect of the speech on the body 
itself less remarkable. It was as conclusive on the branch 
of the subject which it discussed as ever speech could be, 
and hermetically sealed a fountain which had been gush¬ 
ing copiously for years. Few speakers possessed in the 
same degree with him the faculty of subtle disquisition, 
and in the House of Delegates he had frequently displayed 
great skill in debate. There are those now present, per¬ 
haps, who remember his contest in that body with the late 
Gen. Blackburn, who, himself the hero of a hundred fights, 
confessed his power. Nor was his eloquence exhibited in 
public discussion only. He was as great with his pen as 
with his tongue. His address before the Historical Soci¬ 
ety, written on a topic of vital interest to the South, has 
not yet received full credit for the cogency of its logic and 
the beauty of its style. He was a native of the Eastern 
Shore ;—a slip of country, which, however rich in its soil, 
is still richer in the genius and patriotism of its sons, and 
which then contributed an able delegation to the body. It 
is mournful to think that such a man, when he was called 
to a sphere commensurate with his fine abilities, was so 
suddenly taken away. 

With all who are conversant with the legislative history 
of the state the name of Philip Doddridge has long been 
familiar. Perhaps, to him more than to any other man 
living, disconnected from the public press, the Convention 
then sitting owed its existence. As early as 1816, with 
Smythe and Mercer, he had fought the battle in the House 
of Delegates with success, but his favorite measure was 
defeated in the Senate. Then, and not till then, did he 


DISCOURSE. 


52 

approve the passage of the bill re-arranging the Senatorial 
districts on the basis of white population. Although he 
never entirely forgave the East because the districts were 
re-arranged on the census of 1810, and for the loss of a 
fraction of population which he thought was due to the 
West, he was candid and generous in his appreciation of 
the talents displayed by his opponents on that occasion, and 
often in private, and more than once in debate, spoke of 
the argument of Tazewell in reply to Gen. Smythe on the 
convention-bill of that session as by far the ablest he had 
ever heard in a deliberative assembly. A member of the 
House of Delegates at intervals through a long tract of 
time, he was in that body during the session of 1828-9, 
when the bill calling the existing convention became a law, 
and sustained it with a master]}" speech. It may not be 
unjust to the living or the dead to affirm that of all the 
distinguished representatives from beyond the Ridge, he 
held the first place in the estimation of the West. There 
his early history was known ; there his fine talents brought 
forth their first fruits; and there was the theatre in which 
his greatest forensic efforts were made. There was some¬ 
thing, too, in the fortunes of a friendless youth, with no aid 
but from his own untiring spirit, winning his way to the 
highest distinction yet retaining to the last the simple 
manners of early years, which appeals to the best feelings 
of the human heart every where. The people of the West 
knew and loved the man, but they had known and loved 
the boy. The interview of the young Doddridge, chubby, 
sunburnt, ungainly, and in his boatman’s garb, with the 
haughty governor of the Spanish territory on the Missis¬ 
sippi—neither understanding the native language of the 
other, but conversing in bastard Latin which the youth had 
picked up while his fellows were pinking squirrels out of 
the tree-tops of the yet unbroken forests of the West, 


DISCOURSE. 


53 


would form a suggestive picture, which, I hope, the brush 
of some Western son of genius will commit to canvas for 
the admiration of future times. Well and worthily did he 
requite the affection of the West. Not only in his great 
speech on the basis question, when the hope of triumph 
was bright before him, but afterward, when his plans were 
thwarted, did he strive to secure the great object of his 
mission. As a speaker, he had many great qualities— 
readiness, fluency, and an unlimited command of all the 
logic, and, what was of great importance in that body, of 
all the statistics of his case. Irascible even, and prompt 
to take offence where offence was intended, he was distin¬ 
guished for great courtesy in debate ;—a trait so distinctly 
marked as to call forth the pointed acknowledgment of 
Randolph. Whether he prepared himself expressly for 
the occasion I cannot say—for the whole subject had been 
the study of years—but in the great debate on the basis, 
and in the innumerable ones which would suddenly spring 
up, he was a gushing fountain of facts and figures. He 
had none of the ordinary graces of a speaker about him. 
His voice seemed to come from his throat and had no free¬ 
dom of play. He was low and broad in stature ; his fea¬ 
tures were heavy, though to a close observer they might 
bespeak a great mind in repose ; and in his dress he was a 
very sloven. Indeed his form and dress, even his position 
in the Convention as well as the powers of his great mind, 
are foreshadowed by Horace in his third satire as faithfully 
as if the Tiber and the Yohogany were sister streams: 

Iracundior est paulo; minus aptus acutis 
Naribus horum hominum; videri possit, eo quod, 
Rusticius tonso toga defluit, et male laxus 
In pede calceus hseret. At est bonus, ut melior vir 
Non alius quisquam ; at tibi amicus; at ingeuium ingens 
Inculto latet hoc sub corporc; 


54 


DISCOURSE. 


I have spoken of the readiness of Doddridge in debate. 
He was occasionally very happy in retort. When he was 
replying in the legislative committee, which held its ses¬ 
sions in the Senate chamber of that day, to an argument 
which Tazewell had just delivered, he remarked, alluding 
to the Convention bill of 1816, that he had heard that ar¬ 
gument before. Tazewell observed audibly: Ergo it is 
unsound. Doddridge instantly retorted : Ergo it has been 
answered before. Though a resident of that region which 
has not inaptly been termed the pan handle of the state, 
and in his daily offices mingling more with the people of 
other states than with our own, he was as true a Virginian 
as ever trod our soil, and was among the last of our emi¬ 
nent statesmen who spoke with something of the acerbity 
of personal feeling of the craft with which the Pennsylva¬ 
nia commissioners, at the head of whom was the celebra¬ 
ted Rittenhouse, are reputed to have beguiled our own out 
of thousands of acres of our most fertile territory. On 
his return home he was elected to Congress, and, while 
engaged in reducing to a code the local laws of the Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia,—an office for which he was peculiarly 
fitted, he was, like his colleagues Upshur and Barbour, sud¬ 
denly cut offi 

Another of those remarkable men who had not appeared 
in the federal councils, whose mind was formed to grapple 
with the most complicated topics in law and politics, and 
who took a prominent part in the proceedings of the Con¬ 
vention, was Robert Stanard. It was the singular honor 
of Richmond that the names of four such men as Mar¬ 
shall, Leigh, Johnson, and Stanard, were enrolled amon» 
its residents. But Stanard held his seat as the representa¬ 
tive of another district. The ground he stood upon in the 
Convention was an elevated one. His appointment came 
from a district in which he had spent his early life, and 


DISCOURSE. 


55 


which he had represented in the Assembly, but from Avhich 
he had been separated for years. When Mr. Stanard rose 
to deliver his speech on the basis, Mr. Johnson had just 
concluded his great speech on that subject, which may 
well be supposed to have made a deep impression on his 
audience. Still the body was jaded and fagged, and the 
Western members, who anticipated a triumph, were anx¬ 
ious for the question. On the side of the East, which 
might gain but could not lose by delay, although the mem¬ 
bers were worn in some degree by the protracted discus¬ 
sion,—for it was as late as the fourteenth of November 
when Mr. Stanard began his speech, there was a strong 
desire not only that the speech of Johnson should be ex¬ 
amined, but that certain epithets, such as aristocrat and 
the like, should be repelled, and the misrepresentations of 
some of the arguments of Judge Upshur on the principles 
of government should be corrected. What rendered such 
a coerrction necessary, was the fact that the East not only 
received no support from the press of Richmond, but found 
in its editors the most influential opponents of its favorite 
basis. And this leads me to say that there were sitting at 
the clerk’s table, busily engaged in taking notes of the pro¬ 
ceedings, two men, not members of the body, filling no 
civil office, who then wielded a greater influence over the 
people than any other two men in the State, and had long 
favored, though with very different ulterior views, a change 
in the fundamental law. The elder of these for a quarter 
of a century had edited a journal, which was the leading 
organ of the dominant party in the State, with a zeal and 
ability hitherto unknown in our annals, and with corres¬ 
ponding success. He had taught the people to think his 
own thoughts, to speak his own words, to weep when he 
wept, to wreathe their faces with his smiles, and, over and 
above all, to vote as he voted. A sovereignty so complete 


56 


DISCOURSE. 


over the public mind was not likely to pass uncontested. 
Boys, who had just laid aside their satchels; statesmen 
who had lost office or sought it under a new system; wri¬ 
ters of every degree, dipping their pens in ink not unmix¬ 
ed with gall, sought to impair it, and sought in vain. Po¬ 
pularity, running through a long lapse of years, and ques¬ 
tioned at every step of its progress, is rarely an accident; 
and it is certain there was an abiding conviction that such 
influence was wielded by its possessor in a good cause, and 
that he was as honest as he was able. In person he was 
tall and lean; his profile so distinctly marked as not, if 
once seen, to be easily forgotten; quick in all his move¬ 
ments, and in his gait he leaned slightly forward. Nor did 
he spurn the duties of the toilet. In this respect at least 
he had no mark of the professional devil about him. In 
the relations of life he was eminently courteous and social, 
and withal was the most laborious man of his age. The 
editor of a daily commercial paper and a semi-weekly po¬ 
litical one must be a busy man. For many years he drew 
largely on the small hours of the morning. 1 have spoken 
of his tact as a party manager. He never lost his temper. 
He may have acted unwisely, but never rashly or foolishly. 
If he was sometimes seen to trip or fall, it was only to rise 
again, like Antseus, with redoubled strength. All parties 
have their family troubles. It would happen at times that 
a politician, who was persuaded by his friends that he did 
not enjoy that consideration in the party to which he was 
entitled, would run restive ; and it was amusing to see the 
skill with which our editor would reeve a cord through 
his nose and lead him cosily about. But it was mainly 
when a politician abjured his allegiance and joined the op¬ 
posite party, that his full force was felt. The abuse of his 
quondam Palinurus was the burden of the rebel’s song, and 
if the abuse of enemies constituted moral wealth in the 


DISCOURSE. 


57 


eyes of friends, he would have been the richest man in the 
country. Nor did this abuse affect his equanimity ; for in 
his busy life it became a matter of course, and he may be 
said never to have been at peace but in a state of war— 
never out of trouble but when in it. But, as Thomas 
Ritchie still lives, it is beyond our present purpose to say 
farther than that all the influence of such a character was 
thrown on the convention question into the scale of the 
West. 

The other person then sitting near him was much youn¬ 
ger in years, small in stature, careless in his apparel, his 
face bearing a weight of premature care—a prophetic face, 
which was redeemed by a brilliant eye. His intellectual 
endowments were of a high order. In wit, sarcasm, scorn— 
in a ready command of the choicest words and phrases— 
in a knowledge of men and things passing before him, and 
in those qualifications which make up a dashing editorial, 
he had no superior—hardly an equal. His writings made 
a new era in our newspaper literature. Some of his finer 
touches were beyond the reach of Fonblanque. He 
made enemies, as all men, who in exciting times bring 
positive qualities to bear on exciting topics, are prone to 
make : yet there were few of his political opponents who 
did not occasionally relish his raillery even when it played 
upon their own party, He sometimes fell into amusing 
mistakes: for he had read history rather by dwelling on 
favorite eras, within the range of which he delighted to 
linger, than at large, and he was apt, in the hurry of the 
moment, to gather his knowledge at second hand; and the 
lightnings of his genius often scorched too severely the 
objects on which they fell. Nor did he possess—perhaps 
he scorned it—that exquisite tact which is required in a 
public leader in a country like ours, and which was the 
prominent characteristic of his great opponent; for, with 


58 


DISCOURSE. 


the single exception of the convention question, Thomas 
Ritchie and John Hampden Pleasants held no political 
topic in unison; but on that common ground they plied 
their constant task. Hence, as the East had no represen¬ 
tative through the press, nothing could have been more 
opportune than the speech of Mr. Stanard. He opened 
magnificently on the “ war of epithets,” as he termed it, 
and analysed the arguments of Johnson with wonderful 
skill, carrying out his concessions to results which were as 
unexpected to Johnson as to his audience at large. When 
he had brushed away all the false guises which he thought 
had concealed the true question at issue, he proceeded to 
discuss it, dwelling incidentally on the arguments of the 
members who had preceded him in debate, and subjecting 
them to the test of the severest logic. He recalled to the 
attention of the house an argument of Mr. Leigh on the 
results likely to flow from a rejection of the federal basis 
by a Southern State, showed that it had been evaded, or 
not met at all, and urged it with such force as to make a 
deep impression on the body. From his habits of thorough 
analysis and his high mathematical attainments he was 
■well qualified to examine the doctrine which had been ur¬ 
ged in debate of the applicability of the exact sciences to 
politics, and he performed the office with great ability. 
He spoke from the conclusion of Mr. Johnson’s speech to 
the adjournment, and for the larger part of the next day, 
and was listened to with untiring interest by members on 
both sides of the house; for not among the least interest¬ 
ing parts of his address were the interlocutory discussions 
that arose on the part of those whose arguments were sub¬ 
jected to his searching examination. His speech is report¬ 
ed with considerable fullness, and it is to this speech that 
a majority of readers, not familiar with the law reports, 
must look in forming their opinions of his ability as a pub- 


DISCOURSE. 


59 


lie speaker and the qualities of his intellect. With the 
proper qualifications with which one should read such a 
speech, taken down by a stenographer, and corrected, if 
at all, by the speaker when the glow of the moment 
is gone, it will be found to sustain the burden of a large 
and vigorous reputation. He dallied not in flowery meads 
or by the banks of flowing streams; he left Shakspearand 
Milton—the drama and the epic—to the other members of 
the committee to use or abuse as they pleased ; but every 
word that he uttered—every sentence that fell from his 
lips—was a step in the progress of his argument,—was a 
link in that chain with which he bound his opponents. 
Epithets applied to persons had no place in his vocabulary; 
yet his speech was as personal as it well could be; and 
the different explanations that were elicited during its de¬ 
livery were as painful and more vexatious to the parties 
concerned, than if he had written the most opprobrious 
names on their foreheads. He was especially successful 
in annoying his opponents by collating their respective ar¬ 
guments and comparing them with each other—a tender 
office, which in his hands was apt to breed trouble in poli¬ 
tical families. His speech and that of Upshur, though 
differing as wddely as possible from each other, may be re¬ 
garded among the finest models of parliamentary discus¬ 
sion to which the Convention gave birth. The speech of 
Joynes, incomparable in its way, was mainly limited to the 
financial view of his subject, and was not designed to em¬ 
brace a full examination of the multiform principles which 
lie at the foundation of the social compact. With all our 
state affairs Stanard was intimately acquainted, having 
served his apprenticeship in the House of Delegates of 
which he had been the presiding officer, and it is worthy 
of remark that the discussions of the Convention were 
mainly conducted by men who had spent a term of service 


60 DISCOURSE. 

in that school; and, perhaps, it may be said, that, if to 
any one source more than another the excellence of our 
public speakers may be attributed, it will be found in their 
early and habitual service in the General Assembly. If 
Mr. Stanard were able in debate, there were others who 
possessed in a far higher degree the perfections of an 
orator. He had a hesitancy in his speech, or the defect 
may have arisen from the habit of recalling his sentences 
in order to put them in another form, and his diction, 
though correct and at times caustic, did not abound in the 
graces which rarely pertain to those who refuse to pay 
their court at the shrine of the Muses. He was a strenu¬ 
ous advocate of the independence of the judiciary, and 
not approving of the provisions of the new constitution on 
the tenure of the judicial office, voted against its final 
adoption. He again entered the House of Delegates, and 
made a speech in opposition to the Expunging Resolutions, 
which was one of the most elaborate, most subtle, and 
most eloquent speeches ever pronounced within its walls. 
He was afterwards elected to the Court of Appeals, and 
at the time of his death held that station which he emi¬ 
nently adorned. 

It would be amiss even in this hurried sketch of the emi¬ 
nent members of the Convention who had not appeared in 
the federal councils, to omit the name of Gen. Robert Bar- 
raud Taylor of Norfolk. He was educated at William and 
Mary, where he held a prominent position among the young 
men who then attended that institution. Rarely does it 
happen that a greater number of distinguished pupils were 
ever present at a single seminary at the same time than 
were then gathered in those classic halls. There was John 
Thompson, the author of the Letters of Curtius addressed 
to Gen. Marshall,—one who I have heard his surviving class- 
mate declare was the most extraordinary young man he 


DISCOURSE. 


61 


ssver knew, and over whose early death Virginia well might 
mourn; James Barbour, whose honorable career in our 
public councils as a member of the House of Delegates 
and of the Senate of the United States, Governor, Secre¬ 
tary at War, and Minister to the Court of St. James, is a 
part of our history; William Henry Cabell, who, hav¬ 
ing received the highest civil and judicial honors of his 
Dative State, and displaying in the society of the metropo¬ 
lis in which he moved for half a century an urbanity and 
grace peculiarly his own, died recently at an advanced age ; 
John Randolph, who, brilliant as he was, was in the midst 
of his equals; and Littleton Waller Tazewell, who 
then displayed those qualities which were to add new glory 
to a name already distinguished in our annals, and who, on 
the banks of the Elizabeth, in the midst of a lovely family, 
and in full possession of his great faculties, still survives. 
Strictly speaking, they were not classmates. Randolph 
and Tazewell studied Cordery together, and were class¬ 
mates at the grammar school in Williamsburg for several 
years, but were not in college at the same time, Randolph 
having gone abroad and not returning to William and Mary 
until Tazewell had taken his degree. Thompson and Taze¬ 
well were classmates, but when Tazewell was in the senior 
class, Barbour, Cabell, and Taylor were in the junior, which 
Randolph did not join until it became senior. 

The physique of these young men was as remarkable as 
their morale . Barbour, Cabell, and Tazewell were six feet 
high and upward ; Taylor did not quite reach that standard 
of height, but was one of the most imposing and elegant 
men of the age. Thompson was about the height of Tay¬ 
lor, his features peculiar and far from handsome, with a 
grey lustrous eye. Randolph in early youth surpassed 
them all in beauty. A friend, who saw him with his moth¬ 
er in New York in 1786, spoke of him as a beautiful and 


6 


62 


DISCOURSE* 


fascinating boy, and I have heard one of his schoolfellows 
describe him as the most lovely youth he ever beheld, his 
face exquisitely formed, his complexion brilliant, and his 
eyes blacker, if possible, than in manhood. These were 
the associates of Taylor in his college years, and with them 
he pursued the study of the law. In the politics of early 
life Gen. Taylor differed from his colleagues, and, while 
the}'- sustained the doctrines of the republican party, he 
embraced those of the opposite school. All these young 
men except Thompson almost immediately entered public 
life. Cabell became a member of the House of Delegates 
as early as 1795, where he remained, with an interruption 
of three years, until 1805, when he was elected Governor, 
and, on the expiration of his term, a judge of the General 
Court, and afterward a judge of the Court of Appeals, 
crowning his public life with the highest judicial honor 
which Virginia could bestow. Barbour, Cabell, and Taze¬ 
well were members of the House of Delegates in 1798-99, 
and supported John Taylor’s resolutions; and in 1799— 
1800, Barbour, Tazewell, and Taylor were members of that 
body, the two first sustaining the report of Mr. Madison, 
and the last opposing it. In 1799 Randolph took his seat 
in the House of Representatives, in which body and in the 
Senate, he spent nearly the whole period of his life. At 
a later date there was a change in the political relations of 
these young politicians. In 1806 Thompson was no more ; 
but from that time until 1816, Randolph in the House of 
Representatives, and Taylor and Tazewell in private life, 
opposed the administrations* of Jefferson and Madison, 
while Barbour and Cabell, both of whom filled the office of 
Governor during this interval, sustained them. It was in 
1809 that Gen, Taylor became a candidate for Congress in 
the Norfolk district in opposition to Col. Newton the dem¬ 
ocratic nominee, and was defeated. Still, such was the 


DISCOURSE. 


63 


rank which Taylor held in his profession, having been en¬ 
gaged for nearly the third of a century on one side or other 
of every important case in the Norfolk circuit, and so great 
was his zeal in its pursuit, he had no time for studies net 
bearing directly upon the business of life. Hence politics, 
as a science, may be said hardly to have engaged his at¬ 
tention ; and so slightly acquainted was he with the state 
of parties and opinions in the commonwealth, that in a 
speech before the people during the canvass, he proposed 
as his favorite basis of representation the striking of one 
member from each county,—a result highly acceptable to 
his constituents, as it left the balance of power just as it 
was,—and defended this scheme at length on the ground 
of economy and expediency. It was not until the meet¬ 
ing of the body that the white basis was presented to his 
view, when he embraced it with that zeal which marked 
his character; and instantly arriving at the conclusion that 
no other basis was consistent with a republican system, 
and knowing that nineteen-twentieths of his constituents 
were opposed to his views, he resigned his seat. His let¬ 
ter of resignation is fitly inscribed on the journal of the 
Convention, and, elegant in point of composition, will re¬ 
flect on future times the chivalry of his character and his 
unspotted purity of purpose. When the Loudoun delega¬ 
tion elected him the successor of Mr. Monroe, he sent in 
a graceful but prompt declination. 

It has been stated that Cen. Taylor was opposed to the 
policy of Mr. Madison ; yet, when war was declared, unlike 
his friend Randolph who refused to vote appropriations for 
the public defence in flagrant war, he was among the first to 
rally around the standard of his country. He was appointed 
the commanding general of the forces at Norfolk, and, al¬ 
though no opportunity occurred of meeting the enemy, it 
was well known that, in the event of an engagement, he 


64 


DISCOURSE. 


would have achieved all that undaunted valor could have 
won. On his retirement from service, Mr. Madison ten¬ 
dered him the appointment of a general officer in the reg¬ 
ular army, but he declined the honor. With the exception 
of a seat in the House of Delegates in 1826-7, when he 
opposed with all his ability the Tariff resolutions ot Mr. 
Giles, he held no civil office from the commencement of 
the century to the year 1830, when he was appointed judge 
of the Norfolk district under the new constitution—an of¬ 
fice which he held but three years when his country was 
called upon to lament the death of one of the most devo¬ 
ted patriots and most accomplished men. 

It was on the conclusion of Judge Barbour’s speech that 
Gen. Briscoe G. Baldwin rose to address the house. He 
had long been a favorite son of the West. Some years 
previously he had been a member of the House of Dele¬ 
gates, and, associated with Sheffey, the Roger Sherman of 
the West, had exerted himself to effect the removal of the 
seat of government from Richmond to Staunton. In the 
discussions on that question he sustained himself with 
marked ability, and, if he did not succeed in his object, 
gained an increase of reputation. He was one of the finest 
looking men in the Convention, was six feet in height, and 
of commanding proportions ; and he was most cordial in 
his address. The leading trait of his speech on the basis 
was its generous humanity. This is no common praise. 
At a time of high excitement such as then prevailed, it 
required no small degree of moral courage to talk of peace. 
He scorned a war among brethren, and made an eloquent 
appeal to the body in favor of extinguishing the passions 
of the moment at the altar of one common country. His 
manly form is fresh before me as he spoke that day. It 
may be said, that his speech, apart from the chivalric spirit 
which it breathed and inspired, though able, w T as not re- 


DISCOURSE. 


65 


garded by his friends as a fair exponent of his powers, nor 
did it quite come up to the full expectation of the coun¬ 
try. He was elected to fill a vacancy in the Court of Ap¬ 
peals established by the constitution which he aided in 
framing, and remained on the bench till his court was su¬ 
perseded by the present constitution. And, on the eve of 
the recent election of the judges of the Court of Appeals 
by the people, when his name was again brought forth 
under the most favorable auspices, quite unexpectedly to 
all, he suddenly deceased. 

If I omitted a more formal notice of Alfred Harrison 
Powell in another place, it was because he more properly 
belonged here ; as he spoke at length on the basis ques¬ 
tion, and succeeded Gen. Baldwin on the floor. He had 
established a reputation in the House of Representatives, 
and was known in the commonwealth not only as a politi¬ 
cian, but as a gentleman of pure character and of a high 
sense of honor. Although he belonged to the East, he 
ranged under the banners of the West; and, however 
strong, as the West undoubtedly was, in the number and 
prowess of her champions, there were many who regarded 
Powell as likely to render service in the common cause as 
great as any which would be rendered by his colleagues who 
stood more prominently than he did before the people. lie 
had been a member of the House of Delegates as well as of 
the House of Representatives, and was, perhaps, the most 
thoroughly skilled of his political associates in the practice 
of deliberative bodies. A knowledge of parliamentary 
tactics is at all times an element of power, and, as in the 
Convention skill was arrayed against numbers, was of the 
first moment to the interests of the West. He had a good 
person ; his address was at once frank and refined ; and it 
is probable that, if the honor of the presiding office of the 
body -had been awarded by the West to any of her advo- 


66 


DISCOURSE. 


cates on the score of individual fitness, Powell would have 
borne away the palm. Nor was the East insensible to his 
merit. He was more frequently called to the chair in com¬ 
mittee than any other member; and his speech on the basis 
was looked for and listened to with corresponding interest. 
It was altogether a speech worthy of his reputation, and 
will show the caste of his mind as w r ell as his style of de¬ 
bate ; but, as he was indisposed when he spoke, it was not 
as effective in its delivery as it would otherwise have been ; 
and a higher impression of his powers was received from 
his subsequent efforts. Few men appeared to have a 
stronger hold on life than his ; but he survived the adjourn¬ 
ment a few' years only. 

It was early in the debate on the basis that Richard 
Morris of Hanover made his speech. Not above the mid¬ 
dle size, though not much beyond the prime of manhood 
nearly bald, with a face, if not handsome, animated and 
expressive, he advanced to the contest like a preux che¬ 
valier, who, having thrown aside for the moment his breast¬ 
plate, and his sword, and his plumed helm, had descended 
to the arena of the council to advise those measures which 
he was ready to execute in the field. He had been trained 
in the House of Delegates, and was at home upon all State 
topics; and displayed at once that self-possession and vi¬ 
vacity in debate, which several speakers, his equals in in¬ 
tellect, failed to evince. His reputation as an orator and 
a debater may safely rest on the speech which he made in 
favor of the mixed basis. In his political sentiments he 
leaned in early life to the federal party, and was usually 
connected with that small but distinguished clique known 
as the tertium quids; and, as from his near residence to 
Richmond his influence was sensibly felt here, he may be 
classed with those politicians who succeeded in neutrali¬ 
zing the influence of Mr. Jefferson in the metropolis of his 


DISCOURSE. 


67 


native State. It was on the conclusion of his'able and elo¬ 
quent speech on the basis that Randolph made the play¬ 
ful remark which moved the mirth of the West as well as 
the East: “I see that the wise men still come from the 
East.” He did not engage in any subsequent discussion 
that I no\y remember, and in less than three years after the 
adjournment of the body of which he was one of the ablest 
and most distinguished members, at an age hardly exceed¬ 
ing fifty-five, he died at his seat in Hanover. 

The member who followed Morris in the debate on the 
basis and whose election to a seat in that body was a topic 
of remark at the time, from his unique position requires, 
though still living, a short notice. In Virginia, before 
and since the Revolution, a prejudice has existed in 
the public mind on the subject of an union of religious 
and political functions in the same person. In England 
the clerical character is indelible, and in this State no cler¬ 
gyman had appeared either in the State or Federal con¬ 
vention ; and he was directly excluded from the General 
Assembly. It is true that Witherspoon was one of the 
most efficient members of the Continental Congress, and 
exerted a wholesome influence in settling in the articles of 
Confederation—the identical basis for which the East was 
then contending; and in our own State president Smith 
of Hampden Sidney, in the discussions of the day on the 
expediency of adopting the Federal constitution, had op¬ 
posed Patrick Henry, who, in answer to Smith’s pointed 
enquiry why, instead of abusing the constitution, fie had 
not repaired to Pfiiladelphia and aided the Convention with 
his advice when it might have been of some avail, replied 
with a significant look and gesture: “Sir, I smelt a rat 
And not long before the meeting of the convention, Ed¬ 
ward Everett, who had filled the churches of Boston with 
crowds anxious to catch every syllable from his eloquent 


68 


DISCOURSE. 


lips, had thrown aside the gown, and had recently made 
his maiden speech in the House of Representatives. Still 
there was a strong distrust of theologians in Virginia, and 
it was feared that by the presence of a popular divine in 
the Convention the element of religion might be mixed up 
with topics sufficiently exciting in themselves.. But the 
course of Alexander Campbell soon dispelled all such 
fears. He indeed belonged to a sect the most numerous 
in the Union—a sect, however, most devoted to religious 
freedom in its largest sense ;—but, if it had been other¬ 
wise, of this powerful sect Campbell was a schismatic. 
There was no danger to religious freedom from him. He 
needed it more than any body else. With the doctrines of 
his church and with the constitution of the State he was 
equally at war. In his personal appearance, in his dress 
and manners, in his style of speaking, he was a man of 
the world; and it would not have been suspected that he 
was other than a layman, if in his speech on the basis he 
had not drawn his illustrations at length from the Jewish 
system, and sought to strike out George Mason’s constitu¬ 
tion with a view of inserting the book of Deuteronomy in 
its stead. He had a great fund of humor, and, observing 
the zeal with which the East pressed the antiquity of the 
constitution, he proved easily enough the superior age of 
his own system, and urged that the Easton its own princi¬ 
ple might without self-abasement lay George Mason at the 
feet of Moses. He was a fine scholar, and, with the younger 
members of the body who relished his amusing thrusts, his 
pleasant address and social feelings rendered him very ac¬ 
ceptable. As a controvertist he had some great qualities ; 
he was bold, subtle, indefatigable, and as insensible to at¬ 
tack as if he were sheathed in the hide of a rhinoceros. 
He made a successful rejoinder to Randolph, who had quo¬ 
ted in English the maxim of Lord Bacon : Time is a great 


DISCOURSE. 


69 


innovator ; to which Campbell replied by quoting the en¬ 
tire maxim correctly in the original: Maximus innovator 
tempus ; adding quidni igiiur iempus imitemur ? He was a 
native of Scotland, and, as he landed on our shores, he 
happened to take up a paper containing a recent message 
of Mr. Madison, which, he said, gave him the first impres¬ 
sion of American genius. With the exception of Col. 
Bierne, he was, I think, the only foreign-born citizen in the 
body. 

He was followed in the discussion by John Scott, 
whose speech on the basis was an able and well-timed 
effort in favor of the East. It had not been his wont, to 
use his own expression, to sing hosannahs to the constitu¬ 
tion; and his capital defence of the mixed basis came with 
redoubled power from one, who, while, like Joynes and Up¬ 
shur, he favored important changes, was willing sooner to 
renounce them all than yield one tittle of his ground on that 
question. Without the slightest pretension to any grace 
of manner or style, with a voice harsh and forbidding, he 
was an animated and most impressive speaker. He was 
about the middle height. His face had none of that bright¬ 
ness which irradiated the countenance of Morris, who pre¬ 
ceded him on the side of the East in the discussion, but 
seemed worn with disease, under the severe pressure of 
which he made a renunciation of all public office forever 
a renunciation, which his subsequent election to a judge- 
ship, the duties of which he discharged for ten or fifteen 
years until the time of his death with acknowledged ability, 
compelled him to revoke. He was a member of the fed¬ 
eral party, and in the debate on the judicial tenure he 
spoke with great force in opposition to Mr. Giles, between 
whom and himself there was a sharp personal collision. 

Although in the contests of the Convention the lines of 
division were strictly drawn between the friends and op- 


70 


DISCOURSE. 


ponents of the old constitution,—now that those strifes are 
past, and most of the active spirits of that exciting time 
are no more, it may not be inappropriate to class two names 
together, which, though never on the same side on the per¬ 
petually recurring call of the roll, were bound by the chords 
of Christian affection, and were united in the support of 
all the religious and humane schemes which honored the 
age in which they lived —James Mercer Garnett and 
William Harrison Fitzhugh. Garnett was by many 
years the elder of the two, and may be said to have closed 
his political life twenty years before the assembling of the 
Convention, and before that of Fitzhugh had begun. He 
had been a member of the House of Delegates and was a 
member of the House of Representatives during the entire 
second term of Mr. Jefferson’s administration ; and, though 
rarely engaged in prolonged debate, was an efficient coad¬ 
jutor of the party at the head of which was Mr. Randolph, 
which opposed the policy of that statesman. Thenceforth 
he almost renounced public life, and devoted his time to 
agriculture, education and religion,—three great interests 
which then required all his fostering care. He was not far 
from sixty, but retained in his gait the elasticity and erect¬ 
ness of a young man. He did not make a formal speech 
during the session, but watched the progress of events 
with the strictest attention ; and some one present may re¬ 
member how distinctly his sonorous voice was heard above 
all others at the call of the ayes and noes, and recognised 
at once. He was full of life, and delighted in society, of 
which his polished manners, his humor deepening at times 
into a caustic wit, and his large historical recollections, made 
him a brilliant ornament. If John Randolph excited the 
mirth of the Convention at the expense of Mr. Jefferson’s 
“ mouldboards of the least possible resistance,” Garnett 
brought forth roars of laughter in private circles at Mr. 


DISCOURSE. 


71 


Madison’s scheme of hitching the bison to a plough. It 
was in the social gatherings that the artillery of his politi¬ 
cal party was brought to bear with the most decided suc¬ 
cess; and many a young politician, who would have taken 
the alarm at an allusion to the embargo or the war, sunk 
under the raillery played against the philosopher and the 
farmer. His writings on agriculture and education have 
been long before the country, and, if they do not exhibit 
great attainments in any department of knowledge, reflect 
that homebred sense clothed in the simplest Anglo-Saxon 
garb, and that abiding love of his species, which were the 
conspicuous traits of his character. 

The mind of Fitzhugh had probably received an earlier 
training, and was, perhaps, of a higher order. Even be¬ 
fore he entered William and Mary he had studied the art 
of public speaking, and one of his surviving classmates yet 
speaks with rapture of his brilliant speech on the first oc¬ 
casion of his attending a society of that institution. He 
had long devoted himself to the cause of education and 
religion, and had gained honorable distinction a year or 
two before by his speech in the House of Delegates on a 
proposition to remodel the distribution of the interest of 
the Literary Fund on large and liberal principles. He was 
an early and steadfast friend of the Colonization society, 
and his controversy with a writer supposed to be Mr. Giles 
under the signature of Opirnius in defence of that associ¬ 
ation attracted much attention at the time ; and it is in his 
letters written on that occasion that some of the rich fruits 
of his genius may be found. His speech on the basis ex¬ 
hibited respectable powers, and was marked rather by that 
sound sense and truthfulness, guided by firmness of pur¬ 
pose, which constituted his character, and by his persua¬ 
sive elocution, than by that subtle logic which was the order 
of the day. He was in the prime of life, of winning man- 


DISCOURSE. 


72 

ners, and was the pride and joy of every circle in which 
he moved. He probably never made an enemy. In Vir¬ 
ginia, where few of our eminent men have been conspicu¬ 
ous in the offices of religion, a prejudice, perhaps a rem¬ 
nant of chivalry, still sticking to the skirts of the politician, 
who may sit at the card table or over the bottle without 
derogation from self respect or intellectual rank, leads him 
to connect weakness of intellect with a tender humanity 
and a high sense of religious duty. Fitzhugh, who, by the 
way, had nothing of the Norman about him but his fine 
proportions and the name, stood on the same platform on 
the score of intellectual accomplishments and wealth with 
the proudest of his fellows, and had a merit of his own. 
He superadded the glory of a Christian Statesman. In 
politics he embraced the doctrines of the federal school, 
and dearly did he love to sit at the feet of its living Gama¬ 
liel. Of the strictest temperance in all things, and in the 
full enjoyment of those blessings which embellish life and 
make it useful, a long and honored career seemed to ex¬ 
pand before him ; but, in the inscrutable will of Provi¬ 
dence, he was destined to an early grave. 

The name of yet another of the distinguished men who 
had not been abroad in any public capacity, but whose long 
and useful career at home, especially in the Senate of Vir¬ 
ginia, was familiar to his countrymen, demands a grateful 
commemoration. Such was the massive strength of his 
intellect, so intimately were commingled in his character 
all the finest elements of beauty, moral worth, and a lofty 
patriotism ;—so connected and endeared was he in the ten- 
derest relations of life with so many persons on either side 
of that mighty Ridge which has too long reared its icy bar¬ 
rier between hearts which otherwise would have been, and 
ought ever to be, united in the bonds of the strongest af- 
fection,—that I tremble as I approach the name of Chap- 


DISCOURSE. 


73 


Man Johnson. In a former sketch allusion was made to 
a brilliant galaxy of genius which adorned the college of 
William and Mary at a particular era. The name of John¬ 
son suggests the recollection of a youthful triumvirate who 
were likewise associates in that venerable institution, who 
also chose the bar as a field of fame, and who, having at¬ 
tained almost all the highest honors which their country 
could bestow, cherished in age the cordiality of earlier 
years. I need hardly add that I speak of Philip Pendle¬ 
ton Barbour, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, and Chapman John¬ 
son. * At the date of the Convention Barbour alone had 
been abroad, but all three had been bred in that school of 
the prophets, the House of Delegates under the old Con¬ 
stitution. Johnson was born in Louisa, and was, I believe, 
a son of the person of that name who has come down to 
us in an amusing caricature by the Marquis of Chastellux. 
When therefore he returned from Augusta to reside per¬ 
manently in Richmond, it was a reclamation to which the 
East had an equitable title, and which it was proud to make. 
His position in the Convention was delicate and peculiar; 
for, like Stanard, he had received his appointment from 
the generous confidence of the friends of his early man¬ 
hood. While he remained in the Senate as the represent¬ 
ative of the Augusta district, so great was the general con¬ 
fidence in his integrity, he was regarded essentially an 
eastern man; and, although during the session of 1816 he 
had strenuously upheld the Convention bill, which was 
lost in the body of which he was a member by two votes 
only, yet he forthwith embraced the bill re-arranging the 
senatorial districts, and in a spirit of peace, and in opposi- 

* I have learned since the delivery of this discourse that Robert Stanard 
was at William and Marv during a part of the college course with the per¬ 
sons whose names are mentioned in the text. Why does not William and 
Mary publish a triennial catalogue? 


7 


74 


DISCOURSE. 


tion to some of his colleagues of the West, secured its pas-' 
sage. Believing the representation of the West in the 
House of Delegates substantially fair, he was resolved, as 
the Senate had been reconstructed, to oppose any future 
efforts in favor of a Convention. Hence from that time 
he ranged on that question with a great majority of the 
people of Eastern Virginia, and gallantly sustained the 
celebrated Substitute which his friend Leigh proposed at a 
meeting of the citizens of Richmond instead of the report 
and resolutions in favor of a convention which had been 
offered and which were finally adopted. With these facts 
fresh in the public mind, and with the belief that, though 
elected by the people of Augusta, he was left free to pur¬ 
sue the dictates of his judgment, it is not at all a matter of 
surprize that the Eastern people generally expected him, 
if not to sustain their peculiar views, at least to occupy 
some middle ground on which both of the great parties 
might fairly stand. But his course in the legislative com¬ 
mittee soon dispelled these expectations ; and when it was 
known that he sustained the extreme measure of the West, 
there was much disappointment, and the suspicions which 
Mr. Randolph used with such effect, were, at a time of 
high excitement, freely expressed. But the subject ad¬ 
mits of an easy and satisfactory explanation. It has been 
stated that he voted for the Convention bill of 1816 , when 
his main reason for so doing was the inequality of the rep¬ 
resentation. When, however, he had succeeded in secu¬ 
ring the passage of the bill re-arranging the senatorial dis¬ 
tricts on the basis of white population, he obtained all that 
he then desired. With the other parts of the constitution 
he was not disposed to quarrel. But the re-arrangement 
of 1816 was altogether a temporary measure; for, as the 
country had outgrown the previous arrangements, so it 
might be expected to outgrow that of the bill of 1816 , 


DISCOURSE. 


75 


Tillich, as it was based on the census of 1810, may be said 
to have borne on its shoulders the burden of six years as 
soon as it was born; but, believing that in 1829 that period 
had not yet arrived, he opposed a call for a Convention. 
Thus far consistency required him to go, but no farther. 
But when the question arose, not concerning a temporary 
re-arrangement of the Senate, but the establishment of a 
permanent basis of representation in the House of Dele¬ 
gates as well as in the Senate,—if consistency were called 
in, it would have sustained him in upholding the white 
basis in both houses, which was more than he contended 
for, as he was willing to concede a mixed basis for the Se¬ 
nate. Moreover, as no man is ready to sacrifice his honor 
without an equivalent, what had the West to bestow upon 
him ? A seat in the General Assembly, a seat in the Coun¬ 
cil, the office of Governor or Judge, or even a seat in the 
Senate of the United States ? Not one of these honors 
would he have accepted, had it been offered by the West, 
or the East, or both united. The reasons which brought 
him to Richmond would have kept him there. With all 
who knew the integrity of the man, such injurious suspi¬ 
cions weighed not a feather in the scale. Sir, if he were 
not guided in his conduct by a conviction of duty, then 
magnanimity and an exalted sense of honor are the mere 
bye-words of a vain philosophy. If we were permitted to 
look into the recesses of his great mind, it may be that the 
glorious vision of pouring oil upon that troubled sea, and of 
winning the reputation of a mediator among warring breth¬ 
ren, may have flitted before him. Of all the members of 
the body he was best qualified by position, experience, and 
weight of character, to perform such an office. He had 
frequently performed it in the Senate, and he might have 
hoped to perform it on a more solemn occasion. And, if 
the resolution offered by Tazewell, which regarded the ex- 


70 


DISCOURSE. 


isting constitution as a bill open to amendment, had been 
adopted, the scene might have presented itself. The adop¬ 
tion of that resolution 'would have been soothing to the 
feelings of the East. It would have shown that our breth¬ 
ren of the West believed that there was something in our 
institutions, which had borne the impress of two centuries, 
worth preserving. And, even if the basis of qualified vo¬ 
ters, which Mr. Johnson was ready to propose, had been 
adopted, it is possible that a senate of fifty members on the 
federal basis, with a concurrent instead of a joint vote in 
all elections by the Assembly, would have satisfied a ma¬ 
jority of Eastern men, who would have gained more real 
advantage by accepting such a scheme which, as it con¬ 
tained within itself the means of a future re-adjustment of 
the basis of representation, would have settled the public 
mind for half a century to come, than by adopting the ar¬ 
bitrary arrangement of 1830, which contained in its birth 
the seeds of its dissolution at no distant day. But no such 
policy prevailed. Every thing was to be torn from its 
foundations. And a state of feeling soon arose that bade 
defiance to all attempts at pacification. 

His speech on the basis question, which consumed nearly 
three days in the delivery, which is reported with some 
degree of accuracy in the published debates, and which is 
one of the few speeches of his which are accessible by the 
general reader, was, as might well be expected, something 
more than an ordinary production. None but a person in¬ 
timately conversant with the domestic policy of the State 
from the earliest period could have made it. While it 
presents an interesting view of our past legislation in illus¬ 
tration of his main topic, it preserves the prominent cha¬ 
racteristics of his eloquence. Great courtesy, respect for 
the feelings of his opponents, and an unfeigned humility, 
which set off in bolder relief his great qualities, marked 


DISCOURSE. 


77 


t* 


all his efforts. In the course of his general argument he 
was sometimes led to dwell too long on incidental topics, 
and apply to the weaker that time and strength which 
would have been more wisely expended oh the leading 
parts of his subject. Hence, although it must be distinctly 
admitted that a minor topic sometimes assumed from in¬ 
cidental circumstances a dignity which it might not now 
seem to deserve, and required an enlarged illustration, yet 
his speech on this occasion, though at times he was very 
great, as well as his speeches at the bar, lacked that strength 
and compression which were the forte of his compatriot 
Stanard, as they lacked that brilliancy which flashed upon 
you in the speeches of Leigh. His mode of speaking was 
unique. He began in a tone almost inaudible, and gradu¬ 
ally rose, sometimes in the course of a single sentence, to 
the highest pitch of his voice. To those who listened with 
delight to the flowing tones of Morris, the lively elocution 
of Upshur, the musical fulness of Leigh, and the rich 
soprano of Randolph, the management of his voice was 
often something less than pleasing; and to strangers who 
heard him for the flrst time, it was almost startling; but 
to those who were familiar with his manner, this peculiari¬ 
ty was almost overlooked, and his real excellence was ap¬ 
parent. He was more disposed to be grave than witty or 
sarcastic ; yet he once made a happy retort on Mr. Ran¬ 
dolph who replied to some remark of his with wanton se¬ 
verity; “ Sir,” turning to Mr. Randolph whose shrivelled 
face and shrunken form gave point to his retort, “ Sir, it 
needs no ghost to tell me that.” It is singular that his 
face, with the peculiar turn of his head when he was speak¬ 
ing, resembled that of the bust of Demosthenes so nearly 
as to arrest intent attention. When he addressed a friend, 
a benign smile, which lighted up his features, told the 
lovely character of the man. He rarely took an active 


7 * 


78 


DISCOURSE. 


part in federal politics, and I am not aware that, with the 
exception of the Adams Convention which was held in 
this city in 1827, the address of which to the people of 
Virginia was from his pen, and of the meeting which was 
also held in this city in 1834 on the subject of the remo¬ 
val of the deposites from the Bank of the United States, 
that he meddled with them at all in his latter years. He 
never filled any office abroad, but retained to the last the 
confidence of the General Assembly, which honored itself 
by committing to his hands the preparation of the propo¬ 
sed new code. It was a fortunate opportunity for such a 
man, whose fame was so purely Virginian, to follow the 
example of his “ noble friend from Chesterfield,” and in¬ 
terweave his own name indissolubly with the jurisprudence 
of his country; but, after repeated efforts, he was com¬ 
pelled by indisposition to decline the office ; and, before 
the new code appeared from the younger and more vigo¬ 
rous hands to which it was committed, his gentle spirit had 
passed away. When the life and services of this excellent 
man shall be weighed in the balance of history,—come 
that day when it will—posterity will pronounce his repu¬ 
tation one of the purest and most precious gems in the 
moral diadem of his native commonwealth. 

With the name of Johnson was associated in the public 
mind that of one not the least distinguished of the eloquent 
triumvirate heretofore mentioned, who was not only his 
classmate in college, his colleague in the General Assem¬ 
bly, his rival in the contests of the forum, and his compa¬ 
triot in the political struggles of a long life, but the friend 
of his bosom :— Benjamin Watkins Leigh. There was 
such a community of fellowship, of genius, and of exalted 
worth between these eminent men, that the name of the 
one instantly brought to the lips the name of the other. 
Until the Convention assembled, they had always acted in 


DISCOURSE. 


79 


unison with each other ; but now they were not only to 
differ on the most exciting topic of the times, but to lead 
the columns of their respective forces. It was in the close 
quarters of the legislative committee, and not in the house, 
that the severest collisions occurred between them; but 
the dame of early friendship, to the honor of human na¬ 
ture be it said, though it seemed, as may presently appear, 
during a season of excitement unparalleled in our history, 
at times to dicker, burned with undiminished warmth to 
the end of their honored lives. 

As with Johnson, so it was with Leigh,—he was return¬ 
ed from a district which he had served in early life, but ill 
which he did not reside. His brilliant career in the As¬ 
sembly and at the bar, his honorable mission to Kentucky, 
the skill and taste, and withal the scrupulous fidelity with 
which he had prepared the code of 1819, and his burning 
patriotism on several memorable occasions, had added no 
common lustre to his name. But it was in the Convention 
of 18*29-30 that his genius shone with more than its meri¬ 
dian splendor. Virginia had long cherished him as one of 
her sons most distinguished for the strength of his reason¬ 
ing powers, the fervor of his eloquence, and the unsullied 
purity of his patriotism, and it was hardly anticipated that 
he would do more in his new sphere than sustain his great 
reputation. She was mistaken, and not Virginia alone. 
His extraordinary displays not only dazzled the eyes of 
his fellow-citizens, but created wonder and admiration 
throughout the Union. A learned professor of a Northern 
University observed to the person now addressing the 
chair, that an able jurist, himself illustrious for his talents 
and for the grace with which he wore the highest honors 
of his native slate, and who had mingled with the most 
eminent Virginians in Congress, declared to him that, great 
as were the men Virginia had sent to the federal councils, 


so 


DISCOURSE. 


she had retained at home, as if incapable of choosing 
•wisely, a statesman who far surpassed them all. However 
equivocal in one respect this compliment may appear, it 
was the opinion of a competent and an impartial judge, 
and showed the impression which Leigh had made upon 
superior minds abroad. 

It v T ill be remembered that the initiative was given to 
the business of the Convention by the appointment of four 
grand committees to which all the members of the body 
were assigned ; to one of these, the legislative, of which 
Mr. Madison was chairman, Mr. Leigh was appointed. Of 
this committee, the members of which were selected through 
the courtesy of the President by their colleagues of the 
Senatorial district as best qualified to maintain their inter- 
ests on the greatest question likely to engage the delibera¬ 
tions of the body, it would be proper, if time allowed, to 
speak at length. It held its sessions in the Senate Cham¬ 
ber of that day, to which all flocked, although there were 
then sitting in the Capitol three other committees over 
which presided Judge Marshall, Governor Giles, and Mr. 
Taylor of Chesterfield. At the head of a long table, look¬ 
ing northward, sat Mr. Madison, while the other members, 
in seats originally taken by chance, but retained through¬ 
out the session, were ranged about it, with the exception 
of one member, who, as if to avoid even the appearance 
of aiding in the dissection of a friend in whom life was not 
extinct, and whom he still indulged the hope of rescuing 
from the hands which were dabbling in its blood, sat apart 
in the northwest corner of the chamber, his eyes almost 
constantly fixed on a map of Virginia suspended near him, 
and seeming seldom to stray from its eastern portion. I 
need not say to the thousands who day after day watched 
his slightest motion, that I allude to the orator of Roa¬ 
noke, who, long the marvel of his countrymen, had never 


DISCOURSE. 


81 


before filled an office in the commonwealth, and was hith¬ 
erto seen in the metropolis in passing only. Rarely was 
so great a number of eminent men to be seen in so small 
a compass. Besides the venerable Madison, who, as was 
justly said, was not only at the head of that committee but 
of the Convention, and was the patriarch of the Union, 
and Mr. Randolph, there was Tazewell, whose noble head 
and flowing locks a Powers or a Galt would have selected 
as his choicest model of Milton’s human face divine, and 
whose overshadowing reputation was then at its zenith; 
Johnson, of whom I have just spoken; Mercer, a veteran in 
public life, long known in the Assembly and in the House 
of Representatives, in both of which bodies he held the 
front rank ; reputed to be a foeman worthy of the steel of 
Leigh with whom ere this he had grappled full often, and 
directly in front of whom he now sat; his mild expression 
and graceful appearance typyfying, in some measure, his 
chaste and fascinating eloquence ; Doddridge, the particu¬ 
lar champion of the West, of whom I have already spoken, 
Avatching with intense interest every movement of the 
master-spirits of the East who were clustering about him ; 
Tyler, already honored with the highest offices which the 
state could bestow, and whose elevation to the Presidency 
of the United States has made his person and mind fami¬ 
liar to all; Mason of Southampton, then in the perfection 
of manly beauty ; one of the rising statesmen of the day, 
and, his career in the state councils yet unfinished, des¬ 
tined not only to "a seat in Congress and on the federal 
bench, but to preside at a glorious epoch over one of the 
most important departments of the federal government, 
and whose recent appointment to the French Mission has 
met with universal acceptance; Green, the successor of 
Roane on the bench of the Court of Appeals, whose name 
will go down to posterity in connexion with one of the 


82 


DISCOURSE. 


most memorable debates on record, but whose modest ap¬ 
pearance gave no indication of the high judicial merit gen¬ 
erally accorded him ; Cooke, thin in stature, the full ex¬ 
pression of a good face neutralized by green glasses; un¬ 
known in federal politics, and as yet in state, except as the 
author of a violent pamphlet in favor of the West which was 
distributed among the members of the Assembly at its last 
session ; his mind thoroughly imbued with the logic of the 
schools, and feeding on abstractions as its daily bread; 
versed in the minute history of the state, and famous for the 
provoking pertinacity with which he worried an opponent, 
a dog-eared Hening in his hand ; Joynes, large and grave, 
in goggles of portentous size, unknown in public life, but 
fitted for the highest civil employments, and as familiar 
with our finances as if they were the playthings of his 
childhood ; whose figures of arithmetic were the sworn 
foes of all figures of speech; Summers, a judge of the 
General Court, marked by great amenity of manners ; who 
was supposed to hold divided empire with Doddridge over 
the affections of the extreme West; Roane, next to Madi¬ 
son, venerable in years ; whose public life dated back to 
the days of Washington ; Bierne, the muscles of w T hose 
honest face were anon convulsively twitched to sharpen a 
defective sense of hearing, which, however, did not pre¬ 
vent an active career in the Assembly and in Congress ; 
whose long and successful devotion to the pursuits of a 
merchant and a planter never obliterated a taste for the 
classic studies which beguiled his earlier years ; Broadnax, 
whose tall and graceful person, draped in black, was con¬ 
spicuous even in a sitting posture; more prominent at the 
bar than in public life ; Pleasants, who had been a member 
of the House of Delegates in ’98-’99, and ’99-1800, and 
subsequently its Clerk, a member of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives and of the Senate, and Governor of the State, 


DISCOURSE. 


83 


and in every sphere, by the blandness of his manners, his 
unsullied integrity, and his attractive eloquence, had won 
the esteem of his countrymen; Pendleton, who bore not 
only the name but the majestic form of that illustrious man, 
who presided in the convention of 1788, whose impress is 
seen over our whole history, and who in extreme age had 
closed his still active career almost within the shadow of 
the building in which his namesake was now sitting; and 
others whom I pass over in this hurried sketch, but who 
were entitled, if it were for their position on that commit¬ 
tee only, to high consideration. 

In such a body, the elite, I had almost said, of the Con¬ 
vention, the Virginian who was acquainted with the history 
of the state, and who loved eloquence, intuitively singled 
out Watkins Leigh; for his countenance, which must have 
been handsome in youth, still retained much of its fresh¬ 
ness, and but that, with the exception of the glossy black 
hair that covered his temples, he was bald, he would have 
readily passed fora much younger man than he really was. 
He had a good forehead; and his dark eyes, when he was 
excited, seem to sparkle. His voice was sweet, and its 
volume ample enough for his style of address. His ges¬ 
tures were few and graceful, and mainly, as if in the act of 
demonstrating a proposition, with his right hand, which 
was small enough to have won the favor of Lord Byron or 
his friend Ali Pacha, and which, with his general form 
and especially his baldness, he inherited from the mater¬ 
nal side of his house. Like Byron, he was lame, from an 
accident however, but, such was the elegance of his man¬ 
ners, the defect, if it did not heighten, did not impair the 
dignity of his demeanor. It is remarkable that his col¬ 
leagues Giles and Jones were also lame ;—a fact that gave 
birth to a jest among the younger members in strong con¬ 
trast in one sense with the true state of the case, that the 


84 


DISCOURSE. 


Chesterfield district had sent the lamest delegation to the 
body. 

The ball in committee was barely in motion, when Mr. 
Leigh took the lead among the eastern members, and gal¬ 
lantly did he keep it until the final adjournment. Some 
of the finest specimens of his eloquence might have been 
selected from his unpremeditated outbursts around that 
council board; but I regret to add, that, unless in the slight 
memoranda made at the time by the person addressing the 
chair, they are lost forever. He ran over the gamut of 
parliamentary debate ; and argument, wit, sarcasm, pathos, 
were perpetually at his service. He never missed his 
mark ; and once when he assailed with irresistible humor a 
position of Johnson’s, that gentleman sharply observed 
that he had appealed to the wisdom, not the wit of the 
committee. There was one occasion in committee, when 
the various qualities of Mr. Leigh’s eloquence were exhi¬ 
bited with great brilliancy and effect. Judge Green had 
offered a proposition in favor of the mixed basis, and Leigh 
had sustained it with an animated speech, which was re¬ 
plied to by Mercer and Johnson. To these Judge Green 
replied but in a tone so low as not to be distinctly heard. 
Mr. Cooke also opposed the proposition in a very able 
speech in which he detailed for the first time his elaborate 
abstractions on the subject of government. The array was 
very formidable to any speaker, but never did Mr. Leigh 
acquit himself with greater eclat. He began by saying 
that the gentleman from Loudoun (Mercer) had misappre¬ 
hended or misrepresented him. He did not say that rep¬ 
resentation was apportioned to taxation under the articles 
of coniedeiation. He said that when the question arose 
in framing those articles the North contended that the capi¬ 
tation tax should bear equally upon black and white, bond 
and free, which the South objected to; and that the ques- 


DISCOURSE. 


85 


tion was settled at last in 1781 on the three-fifths’ princi- 
ple* He then stated that this was an argument urged for 
engrafting *he principle in the present federal constitution, 
and by the writers of the Federalist for its adoption by the 
people. To prove his statement he referred to the 54th 
number of the Federalist (written by Mr. Madison, as that 
gentleman afterwards avowed.) He then proceeded to ar¬ 
gue that no government was safe that did not protect pro¬ 
perty ; that the definition of property was that the sub¬ 
stance of the possessor was his to retain or dispose of as 
he thought proper, and demonstrated that this could not be 
the case in a government in which the majority had not an 
amount of property equal to that possessed by the minority. 
To show his distrust of such a' government he drew an 
illustration from the case of his brother. I have, he said, 
a brother whom I dearly love, and in whose integrity I re¬ 
pose unlimited faith. But do you imagine that I would 
deliver even into his hands while I had life in my body, 
and while my wife and children look up to me for support, 
all my estate, or, what is tantamount, assent to give him 
the power of leaving me penniless in the world ? No, sir, 
I would not do it. None but a simpleton would do it. I 
mean no personal allusion ; but I say none but a simpleton 
would assent to such a government; none but simpletons 
ever assented to such ; and the law that acted on this prin¬ 
ciple acted only on simpletons, natural idiots, mutes, and 
the whole generation of non-compos people. (Here a loud 
and convulsive laugh burst from the committee and from 
the crowd in the lobby. Mr. Madison elongated his upper 
lip, and assumed a serious air that w r as irresistibly comic. 
Randolph, who in the isolated position I have described 
appeared wholly inattentive to what was passing, but was 
in fact the closest observer in the room, seemed for the 
first time since the body met evidently amused, while the 


8 


86 


DISCOURSE. 


opponents of Mr. Leigh showed that th6y felt the force of 
his logic and the play of his wit.) He continued: The 
gentleman from Frederic (Cooke) exhorted us to disregard 
sectional interests and act like statesmen ; that is, we must 
disregard local interests. Sir, I assure that gentleman that 
I, for one, will not disregard the interests of my constitu¬ 
ents in Chesterfield. I will never consent—never—while 
they pay one hundred cents and his constituents fifty seven 
only, to deliver them over to his tender mercies. I choose 
rather (looking closely at Cooke) to follow the example of 
the gentleman than his precept. (A laugh) As to the re¬ 
fined abstractions of that gentleman, he would not banter 
them with him now. The gentleman from Loudoun (Mer¬ 
cer) has proposed guarantees for our protection. I have 
no confidence in guarantees—none whatever; and least of 
all do f believe they would be observed by gentlemen who 
construed the plainest, simplest words in the world oppo¬ 
site to their plain and palpable meaning. (An allusion to 
Mr. Mercer’s federal politics. Another laugh from the 
committee and from the lobby.) The gentleman from Au¬ 
gusta (Johnson) flatters us with the belief, that, if we are 
soft enough to adoot the white basis, the East would still 
preponderate in the legislature from the superior education 
of her sons. I deny it altogether ; I deny that any man 
has been half-educated in Virginia since the Revolution, 
(a laugh), arid, as to his guarantees, I have no confidence 
in them where propert}' is concerned, any more than I have 
(to use a phrase not “ of strict rhetorical propriety”) in 
that high obligation higher than the constitution itself 
which has recently been the theme of public explanation. 
(An allusion to Mr. Johnson’s defence in the address of the 
Anti-Jackson Convention of a famous expression of Mr. 
Adams.) 

Far be it from me to intimate that I have made a toler- 


DISCOURSE. 


87 


cJble sketch of the speech itself; but 1 am disposed to think 
that it may to a certain extent support the opinion that 
there was a finer field for the display of brilliant powers 
of debate in the close quarters of the legislative commit¬ 
tee than in the Convention itself, where from the exces¬ 
sive length ol a speech which occupied several days, the 
scene became rather a contest of dissertations, especially 
on the basis question, than a field of legitimate debate. 
What forcibly struck the observer of Mr. Leigh’s course 
in committee was his readiness in discussion. He was 
never taken by surprise; and when some unexpected 
movement, as w~as frequently the case, changed the aspect 
of affairs, he displayed, what great experience and ability 
often fail to do, that self-possession, that two-o’clock-in- 
the-morning courage, which Napoleon ascribed to Masse- 
na. The writers on the theory of government he had 
studied in earl}' - life, and retained his knowledge ; and when 
Mercer spoke of Locke’s reply, instead of Sidney’s, to 
Sir Robert Filmer, a glance of Leigh’s eve told that the 
speaker had missed his mark. But it is time the commit¬ 
tee should rise. As I recall those scenes, 1 seem to see 
their living forms fresh before me. The tones of their 
eloquent voices yet linger on my ear, and I can almost feel 
the stifled breath of the crowd that thronged the lobby and 
encroached on the floor; and in another moment I appear 
to move among the graves of the departed. When I remem¬ 
ber the social converse of those eminent men, which it was 
my privilege to enjoy, and reflect that it seems but yester¬ 
day X saw them about that council-board or heard the voice 
of wisdom from their lips, I shrink from the havoc v r hich 
death has made in their ranks. Out of that single commit¬ 
tee Madison, Randolph, Doddridge, Broadnax, Bierne, 
Pleasants, Roane, Summers, Green, Chapman, Taliaferro, 
and Campbell of Bedford, have finished their course on 


88 


DIOCOURSE. 


earth, and the grave lias but lately closed over the gallant 
forms of Johnson and Leigh. 

It was, however, on the floor of the Convention itself, 
that Mr. Leigh made those displays which attracted so 
much of.the public attention toward him. The debates in 
the legislative committee, pungent as they were, were but 
the skirmishes that preceded the general engagement, and 
that engagement was the longest and most animated that 
was then known in our history. It has been stated, that, 
as soon as the resolution of the committee basing repre¬ 
sentation in the House of Delegates on white population 
exclusively was called up, Judge Green moved to amend 
it in favor of the mixed basis ;—Upshur, as before obser¬ 
ved, opened the debate in splendid style, and was followed 
by speakers from East and West successively, who dis¬ 
played a thorough knowledge of the subject and great pow¬ 
ers of eloquence. But it was left for Mr. Leigh to pro¬ 
nounce a speech which was a map of the whole subject, 
which discussed principles, and refuted objections to the. 
existing constitution unanswerably at least in the opinions 
of its friends, and which impressed the large audience that 
eagerly crowded to the hall during the two days of its de¬ 
livery with a degree of admiration rarely excited by foren¬ 
sic efforts. Nor was this his only great speech; for he 
was the warder on the watch-tower of the East; and no 
topic, great or small, urged against the constitution or the 
East, but was met by him and almost invariably with tri¬ 
umphant success. Iiis knowledge of the past history of 
the state, even of a local or temporary kind, was wonder¬ 
ful and he was equally at home in discussing the alledged 
misconduct of the Council in allowing a few pounds of 
damaged gunpowder to be used for a salute on some public 
occasion, and what he supposed to be the true nature of 
Bacon’s rebellion. His style of speaking was impressive. 


t c « 


DISCOURSE. 


89 


His voice, as before observed, was music itself, and his 
eloquence seemed at times to gush from his lips almost 
without articulation, and to come directly from the heart; 
for, what added much to his weight of character, he was 
serious in his purposes, and he believed himself struggling 
in defence of all that in his opinion rendered Virginia dear 
in the estimation of others and in his own. He said to a 
friend that in early life he studied Burke, but that in his 
latter years he adopted Swift as his model; and the union 
of the styles of these two writers may give some notion of 
his own ; for, though his severe logic never would have 
allowed him to indulge in the diffusive eloquence of Burke, 
his imagination ever burned brightly, and he w r as especi¬ 
ally fond of Anglo-Saxon words, as he was, indeed, of the 
Anglo-Saxons themselves. The substitute offered at the 
Richmond meeting heretofore alluded to, is a fair specimen 
of his writing on apolitical subject, and is a noble com¬ 
mentary upon the old constitution, while his Christopher 
Quandary affords a graceful exhibition of his mode of wri¬ 
ting on lighter subjects. While Mercer tripped in his allu¬ 
sion to Sidney, and was unfortunate in his quotation from 
Ovid, Leigh, though he quoted frequently, and sometimes 
at length, never went astray. The debates published by 
Mr. Ritchie will afford posterity a fair impression of his 
mode of argument and his topics; but much was in his 
manner and in the occasion, which, however impressive at 
the time, can never be recalled. I have spoken of his 
prominent position as the great leader of the East; but it 
ought to be said, that his authority extended to the minu¬ 
test details of forms. I remember when the President, 
the late Judge Barbour, himself thoroughly veised in the 
logic of parliaments and in all their forms, wi’.s about to 
sign the enrolled bill of the new constitution, .which was 
placed on the Clerk’s table before him, some doubV arising 

8* 


90 


DISCOURSE. 


in his mind about the proper mode of signing it, which those 
standing near him were anxious to remove, he observed: 
No, gentlemen ; let us wait till Leigh comes; he knows 
more about these things than any of us. 

To trace the course of Mr. Leigh through a session of 
three months and a half would require a volume ; but, 
such were his extraordinary powers, that he retained his 
influence undiminished to the last. This is, indeed, no 
common praise. It is true that the distinguished talents of 
the East never shone with greater lustre than in the vari¬ 
ous discussions that arose in constructing the fundamental 
law ; yet the toil and the responsibility mainly devolved 
on him. No project, no scheme, and they came in legions 
from East and West, but what was critically analysed by 
him, and he was as remarkable for his diligence in exam¬ 
ining the details of the most complicated propositions as 
he was for the closeness of his reasoning and the elegance 
of his declamation. To attain and preserve such an as¬ 
cendancy in such a body was a glorious achievement. Long 
were the eyes of the commonwealth fixed steadily upon 
him, and he well knew that not a word fell from his lips 
unwatched or unheeded. Had his life closed with the ad¬ 
journment of the Convention, his apotheosis would have 
been without a parallel in our history. The East would 
have clothed herself in mourning, and been bathed in tears. 
Eloquence and poesy would have blended their chaplets on 
his insensate brow. The statue, radiant as the living ori¬ 
ginal, would have leapt from the rock to memorialise the 
gratitude of his country, and to present to distant times 
the outward type of its benefactor. But he lived—lived 
to render yet farther and most valuable service to the 
whole people, and alas ! to see a change come over them, 
and, I feart to feel it keenly. 

It W Q ,° h’rom the peculiar caste of his character that any 


DISCOURSE. 


91 


faltering of the public regard toward him would be sensi¬ 
bly felt. As a patriot of enlarged views, perhaps, rather 
than as a politician, he had always enjoyed the confidence 
of the General Assembly, and it was a singular coincidence 
in his life that the only missions dispatched by Virginia 
since the adoption of the federal constitution to her sister 
states—the one to Kentucky, the other, at a long subse¬ 
quent date, to South Carolina,—were unanimously confer¬ 
red upon him, and that it was his good fortune to discharge 
them both with unqualified applause. He loved Virginia 
with a passion as pure and fervent as was ever cherished 
in a human bosom, and regarded her as the impersonation 
of all that w T as good and beautiful. With many men pa¬ 
triotism is a profession, at most a principle ; but with him 
it was a passion; and such was its intensity, that I verily 
believe he loved the vices as well as the virtues of his 
idol, and would have fought as readily in defence of her 
prejudices as of her principles. There was no alloy in his 
love of country. I may add, what gave additional eleva¬ 
tion to the platform on which he stood in the Convention 
was, not only the purity of his private life, his distinguish¬ 
ed services, and his professional reputation, but the gene¬ 
ral belief that he would not descend from his position to 
assume office however exalted, or to curry favor for future 
honors. None saw more clearly than he did the future 
predominance of the “ backwoods vote,” as the Western 
vote was ominously termed by Mr. Johnson, and he knew 
the effect proximate and remote of every word that he ut¬ 
tered ; but his mettle was such that the danger of any duty 
was a propelling motive to its execution. He was quick 
in temper, and his chivalry prompted him to meet an oppo¬ 
nent with the weapon of his choice, but he was not inexo¬ 
rable. When he had stricken his foe, his noble nature 
would have recoiled from the use of the tomahawk and the 


92 


DISCOURSE. 


scalping knife. Like all truly great men, he was easy of 
approach, and, although it was impossible not to feel in 
such a presence, it was plain he sought no adventitious 
means of heightening respect or inspiring awe, for he was, 
as much as any man living, above all the tricks which 
little men use to bolster a reputation ready to perish with 
the passing year. He well knew that his reputation, if it 
were worth having, would take care of itself. His heart 
was sensible to all the gentle emotions; he dearly loved 
his friends, and he avowed in debate with a candor that 
softened the rancor of the sentiment, that he was too apt 
to hate his enemies. 

He may be said to have leaned to a past age more than 
became so great a mind. Not that he did not bring his 
fine faculties to bear wisely and promptly on current topics ; 
but his heart seemed to be with by-gone times. Like those 
speakers in the British Parliament, who, overlooking the 
present, perpetually recur to a period when their constitu¬ 
tion so called existed in all its purity—a period the wit of 
man has never yet ascertained—Mr. Leigh dwelt on the 
glory of Virginia before the Revolution, and seemed to 
cherish the prejudices of the old cavalier as warmly as if 
he had lived in past times and had just landed on our 
shores a fugitive from Marston Moor or the fatal field of 
Worcester with a Cromwellian flea in his ear. It would 
have been a choice intellectual treat, could one have heard 
him under the full excitement of debate overhaul Carlyle’s 
book on Cromwell, and discourse on the modern mode of 
making new saints out of old sinners. He was no fervid 
believer in human progress, and one would infer from the 
remark heretofore quoted about education, and which re¬ 
flected his prejudices, that the country had rather retro¬ 
graded than otherwise in knowledge since the Revolution, 
while the opposite opinion is unquestionably true. The 


DISCOURSE. 


93 


colonists must have been educated, if at all, abroad or at 
home. If abroad, where were those wholly educated men 
in the Revolution? Who was Washington, Henry, Ma¬ 
son, Wythe, Pendleton, Jefferson, Madison ? men who 
were the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night through 
that perilous struggle ? Men who had never left their na¬ 
tive land. And Richard Henry Lee was more indebted to 
his own application in the colony for the development of 
his powers than to a short residence at a provincial school 
in Yorkshire. And if the Colonists were educated at home, 
what other public institution did they possess than William 
and Mary ? and wherein was that superior to the same 
William and Mary under Madison, Empie, or Dew, Wash¬ 
ington College under Graham, Baxter, Marshall, or Ruff- 
ner, Hampden Sidney under the Smiths, Alexander, Hoge, 
Cushing, or Maxwell, Randolph Macon under Olin, Dog- 
gett or Smith, or the University from its establishment to 
the present day? Where are the evidences of this high 
intellectual culture? Where are the books, tracts, speeches, 
poems, of the ante-revolutionary epoch ? It is remarkable 
that Mr. Jefferson, who sought to furnish a list of the lite¬ 
rary works of the colony, when he had enumerated Bever¬ 
ly and Stith, overlooking, by the way, that pearl of our 
early literature, the translation of Ovid by Sandys, could 
only produce a pamphlet by Col. Bland; and it is proba¬ 
ble that the colony of Liberia has published more newspa¬ 
pers since its establishment than were published in Virginia 
from the settlement at Jamestown to the passage of the 
resolutions against the stamp act. While it is improper to 
assent to the unmingled praises of the past, it would also 
be unwise to overlook the idiosyncrasy of those who in¬ 
dulge the mood. Such opinions are in some degree con¬ 
servative of what is valuable as well as what is worthless, 
and exercise an influence on affairs not to be despised ; 


94 


DISCOURSE. 

yet it is questionable whether they flourish most in minds 
of the highest order. Wo unto philosophy, and progress, 
and the welfare of the human race, if it were otherwise ; 
and honored, forever honored be the names of Bacon, Locke, 
and Jefferson. 

When allusion was made to the mortification Mr. Leigh 
might have felt by the action of the General Assembly, to 
pass over federal politics, I referred to the loss of his elec¬ 
tion as a judge of the Court of Appeals. The East might 
have conferred that appointment as a crowning honor on 
the man who had proved himself her boldest defender in 
her darkest hour, and was confessedly the first lawyer in 
her realm, but she virtually gave it to another. The time 
may not be distant when the great battle may be renewed 
once more ; and, when the clouds of the coming tempest 
are closing round her, she will remember to whom she 
owed so much on a similar occasion, and will bitterly re¬ 
gret her ingratitude ; and then she will shed the grateful 
but unavailing tear on the grave of Leigh. And if, here¬ 
after, the Court of Appeals, like the French Academy, 
shall gather the busts of the distinguished jurists who have 
sat upon its bench to adorn its hall, and should the image 
of Leigh appear within those precincts where his living 
presence ought to have been felt, the proudest judge that 
ever sat on that bench may well inscribe on the lifeless 
marble what Saurin wrote on the bust of Moliere : Nothin*** 

o 

was wanting to his glory, he %vas wanting to ours. 

It is time that I draw to a close. And, although I have 
not spoken, unless incidentally, of the living, I must pass 
over the names of Bayly and Henderson, Coalter and Mc¬ 
Coy, Jones and Wilson, Nicholas and Naylor, Pleasants 
and Summers, Trezvant, Venable, and others who partici¬ 
pated in the debates, and whose lips are now sealed in 
death. Nor have these alone fallen. Twenty-four years 


DISCOURSE. 


95 


form no inconsiderable proportion of the whole term of 
human life. In that interval I have more than doubled 
my own years. Those members, then in the first flower 
of manhood, whose brows have since borne or bear your 
greenest laurels, are now treading the brink of old age. 
Of the ninety six members whose names were reported to 
the house from the committee of elections thirty seven 
only survive. Dade and Read did not live to take their 
seats in the body, nor did Watson ever appear. Mennis 
was the first of the qualified members who met the King 
of Terrors. He grew ill, resigned his seat, and went home 
to die. Macrae died immediately after the adjournment, 
and before the close of the year Giles was no more. Mon¬ 
roe survived the adjournment a year and a half, and died 
at the residence of his son-in-law in the city of New York 
on the most memorable day in our annals. Marshall, who 
had endured an excruciating disease at intervals for some 
years, died five years after in the city of Philadelphia, 
whither he had gone for medical assistance, but was for¬ 
tunately spared the agony of learning the death of his son 
Thomas, also a member of the Convention, who was struck 
by a falling chimney as he was passing through the city of 
Baltimore to visit his dying father, and instantly killed. 
Randolph survived three years, and. in the city of Phila¬ 
delphia, where his political career had begun thirty four 
years before, far from those patrimonial trees which now 
cast their shadows over his grave, breathed his last. Madi¬ 
son outlived his two distinguished compeers, and died six 
years after the adjournment in his classic home. There 
was no watcher by the bed side of the lamented Barbour. 
He had retired in his usual but always delicate health the. 
night before his death to his room in a boarding-house in 
Washington, and when he did not appear at the breakfast 
table in the morning, his associate judges, who were then 


90 


DISCOURSE. 


holding their court in that city, and who lodged in the same 
house, hastened to his chamber to behold the mortal re¬ 
mains only of their beloved colleague. Doddridge died 
also in Washington. Upshur perished by the terrible ex¬ 
plosion of the Princeton, when Virginia wept the fate of 
more than one of her distinguished sons. Trezvant died 
on the banks of the distant Mississippi. The ashes of the 
gallant Taylor of Norfolk repose not far from the spot 
where the remains of his brave soldiers, who fell by the 
hand of disease, were deposited, and beneath the turf over 
which he had marshalled the batallions of his countrymen 
at the most trying period of the last war with Great Bri¬ 
tain. Venable, the fragrance of whose memory will ever 
be fresh on the banks of his beloved Appomattox, died in¬ 
stantly as he was walking through his fields. Leigh and 
Johnson died within a year of each other in this city. 
Stanard fell, as it were, on the field of his fame. He had 
heard the argument of an important case in the Court of 
Appeals, and retired to his study to prepare his opinion, 
which, drawn with all his eminent skill, he had nearly con¬ 
cluded, when, as he drew toward its close, the letters seem¬ 
ed to be indistinctly formed, the words were slightly con¬ 
fused, and presently the pen is seen to stray from its course 
in the unfinished line, as the angel of death suddenly sum¬ 
moned him to that higher court before which the glories of 
earth are as the shadows that pass away.* And within 
the past year, Samuel Taylor died from a fall at the Dan¬ 
ville depot in this city, and Taliaferro has also departed at 
an advanced age. Of these, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, 
Venable, and Taliaferro, alone attained the three score 
years and ten of the Psalmist. 

* The case was Yerby and wife vs. Lynch, 3rd Gtrattan, 517, where the 
opinion of Judge Stanard as far as completed may he found. 


DISCOURSE, 


97 


In regarding the mortality of the members, it would seem 
at first sight to exceed that of the federal convention of 
1788 in a remarkable degree. The federal convention, as 
gathered from the vote on the ratification of the constitu¬ 
tion, consisted of one hundred and sixty eight members, 
and in 1829, when our Convention assembled, a space of 
forty one years, there were five survivors: Mr. Madison, 
Mr. Marshall, Mr. Monroe, Judge Stuart of Augusta, and 
James Johnson of Isle of Wight. This would give an an¬ 
nual average of about four deaths in forty one years. The 
Convention of 1829 consisted of ninety six members ori¬ 
ginally elected to the bod)’ - , and approached nearer one-half 
than two-thirds of the members of the former body. Yet 
in twenty-four years, out of that number fifty nine have 
died, or considerably over one-half, at a rate exceeding two 
each year since the adjournment; and when the relative 
numbers of both bodies are regarded, the mortality of the 
convention of 1829-30 would seem nearly double that of 
the Convention of 1788. On the other hand, if the life of 
the Convention of 1788 is to be measured by the life of 
the latest survivor, a different result will follow. James 
Johnson, the last survivor, died at his residence in Isle of 
Wight in 1845 at the age of ninety nine years; and thus 
a period of fifty seven years passed before the entire ex¬ 
tinction of the members of that body ;—which would make 
an annual average of two deaths only. If the last test, 
which seems to be the true one, be adopted, it will be many 
years, I trust, before the relative mortality of the two bo¬ 
dies can be determined. The Convention of 1776, that 
framed the constitution which our convention was called to 
revise, consisted of about one hundred and fifty members, 
and became extinct in the death of Mr. Madison in 1836 ; 
a period of sixty years, which would give an annual aver- 


98 


DISCOURS E. 


age of two and a half- per cent, of deaths in that interval-* 
It must be admitted, however, that the data necessary to 
form a correct conclusion on such subjects are so compre¬ 
hensive and difficult to ascertain, that all inferences drawn 
from them are apt to be more curious than just. 

It was on the fifteenth day of January, 1830, that the 
convention, which then held its sessions in the Baptist 
church below the Monumental, met for the last time. The 
enrolled bill of the constitution was signed by the presi¬ 
dent, when, after the transaction of some business strictly 
official, Mr. Randolph rose to offer a resolution in honor of 
the president (who had called Mr. Stanard to the chair) 
. and spoke with a pathos in delightful unison with the occa¬ 
sion ; and when the president resumed the chair, and, be¬ 
fore pronouncing the final adjournment, addressed the body 
with a glow and grace that seemed beyond the reach of 
his peculiar powers, many a tear was seen to fall from eyes 
unused to the melting mood. The tide of party ran strong 
and full during a session of more than three months, and 
every one in and out of the convention felt more or less 
the intensity of the excitement. But the time was come, 
when old and young, friends and enemies, were about to 
part to meet no more. No eye could have discovered the 
cloud of death that hung black above them ; for none 
thought of the young and vigorous so soon to fall ; but 
every eye was fixed on a few old men of exalted worth 
who would soon leave us forever ; and when the body ad- 


In the journal of the Convention of 1 / / G the list of members given is 
altogether incomplete ; and, although the complement of the body may be 
ascertained elsewhere, it cannot be known from the journal, as the ayes 
and noes were not called during the session. In the convention of 1788, 
the ayes and noes were called three times only ; while in the convention of 
1829-30, they were called so frequently after the committees had reported, 
that it is impossible to open the journal without seeing them, and they pro¬ 
bably make up half of its bulk. 


DISCOURSE. 


99 


journed, all pressed to shake by the hand,/or tlm last time 
these venerable men of the past age. When the president 
concluded his address, he declared the final adjournment, 
and the convention of 1829-30 became among the things 
that were. And, although the structure of their hands has 
been re-modeled by those for whom it was reared, and most 
of those master-builders in the science of constitutional 
architecture, as they were termed by the president, have 
passed away, I trust that the office of pronouncing their 
names on the ear of the busy world—an office which a 
sincerely wish had been consigned to more competent 
hands—may not be without its use in stimulating the youth 
of Virginia to cherish the memory of their wisdom and 
worth, and emulate the glory which they have bequeathed 
them. 


APPENDIX. 


Jl list of the Members of the Virginia Convention of 1829- 

30, reported October 9, by the Committee of Privileges 

and Elections. 

From the district composed of the counties of Amelia, Ches¬ 
terfield, Cumberland, Nottoway, Powhatan, and the r lown of 
Petersburg. 

John W. Jones,* Samuel Taylor,* 

Benjamin W. Leigh,* William B. Giles,* 

From the district composed of the counties of Brunswick, 
Dinwiddie, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg. 

William II. Broadnax,* Mark Alexander, 

George C. Dromgoole,* William O. Goode. 

From the district composed of the counties of Charles City, 
Elizabeth City, James City, Ilenrico, New Kent, X\ arwick’ 
York, and the cities of Richmond and Williamsburg. 

John Marshall,* Philip N. Nicholas,* 

John Tyler, John B. Clopton, 

From the district composed of the counties of Shenandoah 
aud Rockingham. 

William Anderson, Peachy Harrison,* 

Samuel Coffman, ' Jacob D. Williamson. 

From the district composed of the counties of Augusta, Rock¬ 
bridge, and Pendleton. 

Briscoe G. Baldwin,* William McCoy,* 

Chapman Johnson,* Samuel McD. Moore. 

From the districtcomposed of the counties of Monroe, Green¬ 
brier, Bath, Botetourt, Alleghany, Pocahontas and Nicholas. 
Andrew Beirue,* Fleming B. Miller, 

William Smith, John Baxter. 


APPENDIX. 


101 


From the district composed of the counties of Sussex, Surry, 
Southampton, Isle of Wight, Prince George and Greensville. 
John Y. Mason, Augustine Claiborne,* 

James Trezvant,* John Urquhart.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Charlotte, 
Halifax, and Prince Edward. 

John Randolph,* Richard Logan, 

William Leigh, Richard N. Venable*. 

From the district composed of the counties of Spotsylvania, 
Louisa, Orange and Madison. 

James Madison,* David Watson,* 

PhilipP. Barbour,* Robert Stanard.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Loudoun and 
F airfux. 

James Monroe,* William H. Fitzhugh,* 

Charles F. Mercer, Richard II. Henderson.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Frederic and 
Jefferson. 

John R. Cooke, Hierome L. Opie,* 

Alfred H. Powell,* Thomas Griggs, Jr. 

From the district composed of the counties of Hampshire, 
Hardy, Berkeley, and Morgan. 

William Naylor,* Elisha Boyd,* 

William Donaldson,* Philip C. Pendleton. 

From the district composed of the counties of Washington, 
Lee, Scott, Russell, and Tazewell. 

John B. George, Edward Campbell,* 

Andrew McMillan,* William Byars. 

From the district composed of the counties of King William, 
King aud Queen, Essex, Caroline, and Hanover. 

John Roane,* Richard Morris,* 

William P. Taylor, James M. Garnett.* 


*' Dead. 


102 


APPENDIX. 


From the district composed of the Counties of Wythe, Mont¬ 
gomery, Grayson, and Giles. 

Gordon Cloyd,* John P. Mathews,* 

Henley Chapman,* William Oglesby.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Kanawha, 
Mason, Cabell, Randolph, Harrison, Lewis, Wood, and Logan. 
Edwin S. Duncan, Lewis Summers,* 

John Laidley, Adam See.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Ohio, Tyler, 
Brooke, Monongalia and Preston. 

Charles S. Morgan, Alexander Campbell, 

Philip Doddridge,* Eugenius M. Wilson.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Fauquier and 
Culpeper. 

John S, Barbour, John Macrae,* 

John Scott,* John W. Green.* 

From the district composed of the counties of Norfolk, Prin¬ 
cess Anne, Nansemond, and the borough of Norfolk. 

Littleton W. Tazewell, Robert B. Taylor,* 

Joseph Prentis,* George Loyall. 

From the districtcomposed of the counties of Campbell, Buck¬ 
ingham, and Bedford. 

William Campbell,* Callohill Meuuis,* 

Samuel Clay tor,* James Saunders. 

From the district composed of the counties of Franklin, Pat¬ 
rick, Henry, and Pittsylvania. 

George Townes, Joseph Martin,* 

Benj. W. S. Cabell, Archibald Stuart. 

From the district composed of the counties of Albemarle, 
Amherst, Nelson, Fluvanna, and Goochland. 

James Pleasants,* Lucas P. Thompson, 

William F. Gordon, Thomas Massie, Jr. 


* Dead. 


APPENDIX. 


103 


From the district composed of the counties of King George, 
Westmoreland, Lancaster, Northumberland. Richmond, Staf¬ 
ford and Prince William. 


W. A. G. Dade,* 

John Taliaferro,* 

EHyson Currie,* 

Fleming Bates.* 

From the district composed 

of the counties of Mathews, Mid- 

dlesex, Accomac, Northampto 

n, and Gloucester. 

Thomas R. Joynes, 

Calvin H. Read,* 

Thomas M. Bayly,* 

Abel P. Upshur.* 

A List of the Members who 

Voted on the Final Adoption of 

the Constitution. 

The names of the gentlemen who voted in the affirmative, are: 
Messrs. P. P. Barbour,* Pres't. Messrs. James M. Garnett,* 

John W. Jones,* 

John S. Barbour, 

B. W. Leigh,* 

John Scott,* 

Samuel Taylor,* 

John W. Green,* 

William B. Giles,* 

Thomas Marshall,* 

William 11. Broadnax,* 

Littleton W. Tazewell, 

George C. Dromgoole,* 

George Loyall, 

Mark Alexander, 

Joseph Prentis,* 

William O. Goode, 

Hugh B. Grigsby, 

John Marshall,* 

William Campbell,* 

John Tyler, 

Samuel Branch,* 

Philip N. Nicholas,* 

George Townes, 

John B. Clopton, 

Benj. W. S. Cabell, 

John Y. Mason, 

Joseph Martin.* 

James Trezvaut** 

Archibald Stuart, Jr., 

Augustine Claiborne,* 

James Pleasants,* 

John Urquhart,* 

William F. Gordon, 

John Randolph,* 

Lucas P. Thompson, 

William Leigh, 

Thomas Massie, Jr., 

Richard Logan, 

Fleming Bates,* 

Richard N. Venable,* 

Augustine Neale, 

James Madison,* 

Alex. F. Rose,* 

Waller Hoiladay,* 

John Coalter,* 


* Dead. 


104 


APPENDIX. 


Richard H. Henderson, 
John R. Cooke, 

John Roane,* 

William P. Taylor, 
Richard Morris,* 


Thomas R. Joynes, 
Thomas M. Bavly,* 
Abel P. Upshur,* 
William K. Perrin,—55. 


And the names of the gentlemen who voted in the negative 
are: 


Messrs. William Anderson, 
Samuel Coffman, 

Peachy Harrison,* 

Jacob D. Williamson, 
Briscoe G. Baldwin,* 
Chapman Johnson,* 
William McCoy,* 
William H. Fitzhugh,* 
Joshua Osborne, 

Alfred H. Powell,* 
Thomas Griggs, Jr., 
James M. Mason, 
William Naylor,* 
William Donaldson,* 
Elisha Boyd,* 

Philip C. Pendleton, 
John B. George, 

Andrew' McMillan,* 
Edward Campbell,* 
William Byars, 

Mr. Doddridge was absent 


Messrs. S. M’D. Moore, 
Andrew Beirne,* 

William Smith, 

Fleming B. Miller, 

John Baxter, 

Robert Stauard,* 

Charles F. Mercer, 
Gordon Cloyd,* 

Henley Chapman,* 

John P. Mathews.* 
William Oglesby,* 

Edwin S. Duncan, 

John Laid ley, 

Lewis Summers,* 

Adam See,* 

Charles S. Morgan, 
Alexander Campbell, 
Eugenius M. Wilson,* 
Samuel Claytor,* 

James Saunders.—40. 
at the call of the ayes and noes. 


* Dead. 


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